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CELEBRATED  CRIMES 


VOLUME  II 


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CELEBRATED  CRIMES 


TRANSLATED 

BY  I.  G.  BURNHAM 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  PHOTOGRAVURES 


AFTER 


ORIGINAL  DRAWINGS  BY  DE  LOS  RIOS,  PRODHOMME 

WAGREZ,  ETC. 

VOLUME  II 


NEW  YORK 

GEORGE  H.  RICHMOND  &  CO. 


/ 


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COPYRIGHTED  1 895,  BY  G.  B< 


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CONTENTS  OF  VOL  II. 


The  Boegias 


PAGE. 

,  .  1 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

VOL.  II. 

THE  BORGIAS 

After  Drawings  by  Jacques  Wagrez  and  Jules  Gamier. 

Francesco  Borgia  Seeks  His  Mother  and  Sister  to 
Inform  Them  of  the  Expected  Election  of  His 
Father  to  the  Papacy  .  . . Fronts. 

PAGE. 

Alexander  VI.  Visiting  His  Daughter  Lucrezia  .  .  48 

The  Body  of  Francesco  Borgia,  Duke  of  Gandia, 
Murdered  by  Csesar  Borgia,  Thrown  Into  the 


Tiber . 136 

Don  Alphonso  of  Aragon,  Husband  of  Lucrezia, 

Murdered  by  Order  of  the  Borgias . 192 


The  Accidental  Poisoning  of  Alexander  VI.  and  of 
His  Son,  Csesar  Borgia,  Duke  of  Romagna  .  .  240 


The  Borgias. 


Vol.  II.— 1. 


X 


CELEBRATED  CRIMES. 


THE  BORGIAS. 

1492-1507. 

On  the  eighth  of  April,  1492,  in  a  sleeping  apartment 
of  the  Carreggi  Palace,  a  league  or  more  from  Florence, 
three  men  were  grouped  about  a  bed  on  which  a  fourth 
lay  dying. 

The  first  of  the  three,  who  was  seated  at  the  foot  of 
the  bed,  half  concealed  by  the  heavy  curtains  of  gold 
brocade,  was  Ermolas  Barbaro,  author  of  the  treatise  on 
“Celibacy,”  and  of  the  “  Studies  upon  Pliny,”  who,  being 
at  Rome  the  year  before  as  Ambassador  from  the  Repub¬ 
lic  of  Florence,  had  been  appointed  Patriarch  of  Aqui- 
leia  by  Innocent  VIII. 

The  second  who  was  kneeling,  and  holding  a  hand  of 
the  moribund  in  his  own,  was.  Angelo  Politiano,  the 
Catullus  of  the  fifteenth  century,  a  highly  cultivated 
genius  of  the  antique  type,  whose  polished  Latin  verses 
would  have  enabled  him  to  pass  anywhere  for  a  poet  of 
the  Augustan  period. 

The  third  who  was  standing  against  one  of  the 
twisted  columns  of  the  canopy,  and  following  with  an  ex¬ 
pression  of  deep  sadness  the  progress  of  the  disease  upon 
the  dying  man’s  face,  was  the  illustrious  Pico  of  Miran- 
dola,  who  could  speak  twenty-two  different  languages 

(3) 


4 


THE  BORGIAS. 


when  he  was  but  twenty  years  old,  and  who  offered  to 
reply  in  each  of  the  twenty-two  to  seven  hundred  ques¬ 
tions  to  be  propounded  to  him  by  the  twenty  most  learned 
men  in  the  whole  world,  if  they  could  be  got  together  at 
Florence. 

The  dying  man  was  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent ;  he  had 
suffered  since  the  beginning  of  the  year  from  a  fierce 
and  obstinate  fever,  aggravated  by  the  gout,  which  was 
hereditary  in  his  family,  and,  realizing  at  last  the  utter 
inutility  and  powerlessness  of  the  draughts  of  dissolved 
pearls,  administered  by  the  charlatan  Leoni  di  Spoleto, 
who  adapted  his  remedies  to  the  wealth  rather  than  to 
the  needs  of  his  patient,  he  had  concluded  that  he  must 
be  reconciled  to  part  with  his  sweet-voiced  mistresses 
and  his  silver-tongued  poets,  and  to  leave  behind  his 
luxurious  palaces.  He  had  sent,  therefore,  to  request 
the  Dominican  monk,  Girolamo  Francesco  Savonarola, 
to  visit  him  and  give  him  absolution  for  his  sins,  which, 
if  committed  by  a  man  less  highly  placed,  would  have 
been  called  crimes. 

It  was  not,  however,  without  some  secret  dread,  as 
against  which  the  flattery  of  his  friends  was  powerless, 
that  the  voluptuary  and  usurper  awaited  the  coming 
of  the  stern,  ascetic  preacher,  whose  words  shook  Flor¬ 
ence  to  her  foundations,  and  upon  whose  forgiveness  all 
his  hopes  of  the  other  world  rested.  For  Savonarola 
was  one  of  those  men  of  marble,  who,  like  the  statue  of 
the  Commander,  knock  at  the  doors  of  riotous  livers,  in 
the  midst  of  their  fetes  and  orgies,  to  tell  them  that  the 
time  has  come  when  they  must  begin  to  think  of  the 
hereafter. 

Born  at  Ferrara,  whither  his  family,  which  was  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  in  Padua,  had  been  induced  to  go  by 
Marquis  Nicolas  d’Este,  he  was,  at  twenty-three  years 


THE  BORGIAS. 


5 


of  age,  led  by  an  irresistible  vocation  for  the  life  of  a 
priest,  to  run  away  from  his  father’s  house,  and  take  the 
vows  at  the  Dominican  convent  in  Florence.  He  was 
then  appointed  by  his  superiors  to  give  lessons  in  philo¬ 
sophy,  and  during  the  early  years  of  his  novitiate  had 
to  contend  with  all  the  disadvantages  of  a  weak  and 
discordant  voice,  defective  pronunciation,  and,  more 
than  all  else,  with  complete  physical  prostration,  brought 
about  by  too  great  abstinence. 

Thenceforth  Savonarola  condemned  himself  to  abso¬ 
lute  seclusion,  and  disappeared  in  the  depths  of  the 
convent,  as  if  the  stone  had  rolled  back  across  the  door 
of  the  tomb.  Kneeling  upon  the  cold  flags,  praying 
without  cessation  before  a  wooden  crucifix,  his  mind 
raised  to  the  highest  pitch  of  exaltation  by  vigils  and 
penances,  he  soon  passed  from  mere  meditation  to  seeing 
visions,  and  began  to  feel  in  his  heart  the  secret,  pro¬ 
phetic  impulse  which  summoned  him  to  preach  the  refor¬ 
mation  of  the  Church. 

The  reformation  preached  by  Savonarola,  however, 
was  more  reverential  than  that  preached  by  Luther, 
which  it  preceded  by  about  twenty-five  years,  and 
showed  more  respect  to  existing  institutions,  while 
attacking  men  ;  its  aim  being  to  bring  about  a  change 
of  human  dogmas,  but  not  of  the  divine  faith  itself. 
His  appeals  were  not  like  those  of  the  German  monk, 
to  men’s  reason,  but  to  their  imaginations ;  with  him 
logic  always  held  a  subordinate  place  to  inspiration ;  he 
was  not  a  theologian,  but  a  prophet. 

Nevertheless,  although  he  had  thus  far  yielded  to  the 
authority  of  the  Church,  he  had  already  raised  his  voice 
in  opposition  to  the  temporal  power.  In  his  eyes  religion 
and  liberty  were  two  virgins  of  equal  sanctity,  so  that 
Lorenzo  seemed  to  him  no  less  guilty  in  violating  the 


6 


THE  BORGIAS. 


one,  than  Innocent  VIII.  in  dishonoring  the  other.  The 
result  was  that  so  long  as  Lorenzo  lived  his  life  of  profli¬ 
gate,  careless  luxury,  Savonarola  consistently  refused, 
despite  the  most  persistent  urging,  to  seem  to  sanction 
by  his  presence  a  power  he  regarded  as  illegitimate. 
But  when  Lorenzo  on  his  death-bed  sent  for  him,  that 
was  another  matter.  The  austere  monk  set  out  at  once, 
bareheaded  and  barefooted,  hoping  to  save  not  the  dying 
man’s  soul  alone,  but  the  liberty  of  the  republic. 

Lorenzo,  as  we  have  said,  was  awaiting  Savonarola’s 
arrival  with  impatience  mingled  with  anxiety,  and  when 
he  heard  his  steps  approaching,  his  pale  face  assumed  a 
more  cadaverous  hue  than  before,  as  he  raised  himself 
upon  his  elbow,  motioning  to  his  three  friends  to  leave 
the  room.  They  obeyed  at  once,  and  had  hardly  passed 
out  at  one  door,  when  the  curtain  at  the  other  was  raised 
and  the  monk  appeared  upon  the  threshold,  pale  of  face, 
and  with  grave  and  impassive  mien.  Lorenzo  dei  Medici, 
as  his  eye  fell  upon  him,  read  in  his  face  the  inflexibility 
of  a  statue,  and  fell  back  upon  his  bed  with  a  sigh  so 
deep  that  it  might  have  been  his  last. 

The  monk  glanced  about  the  room,  as  if  to  make  sure 
that  he  was  alone  with  the  moribund  ;  then  he  walked 
with  slow  and  solemn  step  toward  the  bed.  Lorenzo 
watched  him  draw  near,  apparently  in  deadly  terror, 
and  when  he  reached  his  side,  he  cried : 

“  Oh  !  my  father,  I  have  been  a  great  sinner  !  ” 

“  God’s  mercy  is  infinite,”  the  preacher  replied,  “  and 
I  am  authorized  to  extend  God’s  mercy  to  thee.” 

“  Do  you  think  that  God  will  forgive  my  sins  ?  ”  cried 
the  dying  man,  feeling  hope  revive  in  his  breast  when  he 
heard  those  words  which  he  little  expected  to  hear  from 
the  monk’s  lips. 

“  Sins  and  crimes  as  well,  God  will  forgive  everything,” 


THE  BORGIAS. 


7 


Savonarola  replied.  “  God  will  forgive  thy  frivolous 
amusements,  thy  adulterous  connections,  and  thy  obscene 
entertainments ;  so  much  for  thy  sins.  God  will  forgive 
thee  for  having  promised  two  thousand  florins  reward  to 
the  man  who  should  bring  you  the  heads  of  Dietisalvi, 
Nerone  Nigi,  Angelo  Antinori  and  Nicolo  Soderini,  and 
twice  that  sum  to  him  who  should  deliver  them  to  you 
alive ;  God  will  forgive  thee  for  putting  to  death  upon 
the  scaffold,  or  the  gibbet,  the  son  of  Papi  Orlandi, 
Francesco  di  Brisghella,  Bernardo  Nardi,  Jacopo  Fres- 
cobaldi,  Amoretto  Baldovinetti,  Pietro  Balducci,  Ber¬ 
nardo  di  Bandino,  Francesco  Frescobaldi,  and  more  than 
three  hundred  others,  whose  names,  albeit  less  illustrious 
than  theirs,  were  no  less  dear  to  Florence ;  so  much  for 
thy  crimes.” 

At  each  of  these  names,  which  Savonarola  pronounced 
slowly  and  with  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  dying  man’s 
face,  Lorenzo  uttered  a  groan,  which  proved  that  the 
monk’s  memory  was  only  too  accurate. 

“  Do  you  really  believe,  father,”  he  asked,  doubtfully, 
when  the  catalogue  was  ended,  “  that  God  will  forgive 
everything,  both  sins  and  crimes  ?  ” 

“  Everything,”  said  Savonarola  ;  “  but  only  on  three 
conditions.” 

“  What  are  they  ?  ” 

“First,  that  thou  dost  have  unquestioning  faith  in 
the  power  and  mercy  of  God.” 

“  Father,”  replied  Lorenzo  eagerly,  “  such  faith  I 
already  feel  in  the  inmost  depths  of  my  soul.” 

“  Second,  that  thou  dost  restore  the  property  of  other 
people,  which  thou  hast  unlawfully  confiscated  and 
retained.” 

“  Shall  I  have  time,  father  ?  ” 

“  God  will  give  thee  time.” 


8 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Lorenzo  closed  his  eyes  as  if  to  reflect  more  at  his 
ease. 

“Yes,  father,  I  will  do  it,”  he  said,  after  a  moment’s 
silence. 

“  Third,”  continued  Savonarola,  “  that  thou  dost 
restore  to  the  republic  her  former  independence  and 
freedom  of  action.” 

Lorenzo,  with  a  convulsive  movement,  rose  to  a  sitting 
posture,  gazing  into  the  Dominican’s  eyes  to  see  if  he 
were  not  mistaken  and  had  really  heard  aright.  Savon¬ 
arola  repeated  his  words. 

“  Never !  never !  ”  cried  Lorenzo,  falling  back  upon 
the  bed,  and  shaking  his  head  vigorously ;  “  never !  ” 

The  monk  without  another  word  took  a  step  toward 
the  door. 

“  Oh  !  my  father !  my  father !  ”  shrieked  the  dying 
man,  “  do  not  leave  me  thus.  Have  pity  on  me  !  ” 

“  Have  thou  pity  on  Florence,”  retorted  the  monk. 

“  But,  Florence  is  free,  my  father ;  Florence  is  happy.” 

“  Florence  is  enslaved,  Florence  is  poor,”  cried  Savon¬ 
arola  ;  “  poor  in  genius,  poor  in  wealth,  and  poor  in 
gallant  hearts.  Poor  in  genius,  because  thy  son  Pietro 
will  come  after  thee,  Lorenzo ;  poor  in  wealth,  because 
thou  hast  maintained  the  splendor  of  thy  family,  and 
the  credit  of  thy  treasury  with  the  funds  of  the  republic  ; 
poor  in  gallant  hearts,  because  thou  hast  despoiled  the 
lawful  magistrates  of  the  authority  which  the  constitu¬ 
tion  gave  them,  and  hast  turned  thy  fellow-citizens  aside 
from  the  twofold  civil  and  military  career,  in  which  they 
were  wont  to  display  all  the  virtue  and  valor  of  the 
olden  time,  before  thou  hadst  enervated  them  by  thy 
luxurious  mode  of  life,  so  that  when  the  day  comes,  a 
day  which  is  not  far  distant,”  continued  the  monk, 
whose  eyes  flashed,  as  if  he  were  reading  the  future, 


THE  BORGIAS. 


9 


“  when  the  barbarians  pour  down  from  the  mountains, 
the  walls  of  our  cities,  like  the  walls  of  Jericho,  will 
crumble  and  fall  at  the  first  blast  of  their  trumpets.” 

“  And  you  wish  me,  on  my  death-bed,  to  relinquish 
the  power  on  which  rests  the  glory  of  my  whole  life?  ” 

“  It  is  not  I  who  wish  it,  but  the  Lord,”  replied 
Savonarola  coldly. 

“  Impossible  !  impossible  !  ”  muttered  Lorenzo. 

“  Very  well !  die  then  as  thou  hast  lived,”  cried  the 
monk,  “  surrounded  by  thy  courtiers  and  flatterers,  and 
may  they  destroy  thy  soul  as  they  have  destroyed  thy 
body !  ” 

With  that  the  implacable  Dominican,  deaf  to  the 
shrieks  of  the  moribund,  withdrew  from  the  room  with 
the  same  expression  and  the  same  measured  step  with 
which  he  entered  it,  seeming  to  soar  above  petty  human 
affairs  like  a  spirit  already  released  from  its  earthly  bonds. 

Ermolao,  Politiano  and  Pico,  who  had  overheard  all 
that  passed,  rushed  back  into  the  room  at  the  cry  which 
Lorenzo  uttered  when  the  priest  disappeared  ;  they  found 
him  hugging  tightly  in  his  arms  a  crucifix  which  he 
had  torn  from  the  headboard  of  his  bed.  In  vain  did 
they  try  to  soothe  him  with  words  of  comfort.  Lorenzo 
replied  only  by  sobs  ;  and  within  an  hour  after  the  scene 
we  have  described  he  died,  with  his  lips  glued  to  the 
feet  of  the  crucifix  of  Christ,  in  the  arms  of  his  three 
friends,  the  most  highly  favored  of  whom,  although  they 
were  all  young  men,  was  destined  to  survive  him  no 
more  than  two  years. 

“  As  his  demise  was  destined  to  entail  disaster,”  says 
Nicolo  Machiavelli,  “  Heaven  saw  fit  to  send  most 
unambiguous  warnings  of  what  was  to  come ;  the 
dome  of  the  Church  of  Santa  Reparata  was  struck  by 
lightning  and  Rodrigo  Borgia  was  chosen  pope.” 


10 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Toward  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  that  is  to 
say,  at  the  period  when  our  narrative  opens,  the  square 
of  St.  Peter’s  at  Rome  was  very  far  from  presenting  the 
imposing  spectacle  which  in  these  days  of  ours  bursts 
upon  the  vision  of  those  who  approach  it  by  way  of  the 
Piazza  dei  Rusticucci. 

The  basilica  of  Constantine  was  no  longer  in  exist¬ 
ence^  and  that  of  Michel  Angelo,  the  monument  of 
thirty  popes,  representing  the  labor  of  three  centuries, 
and  an  outlay  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  millions,  was 
not  then  erected.  The  former  structure,  after  weather¬ 
ing  the  storms  of  eleven  hundred  and  forty-five  years, 
had  reached  a  dangerous  condition  of  decay  about  1440, 
and  Nicolas  V.,  the  artistic  predecessor  of  Julius  II. 
and  Leo  X.,  caused  it  to  be  torn  down,  as  well  as  the 
temple  of  Probus  Anicius,  which  adjoined  it,  and  on  its 
site  had  laid  the  foundations  of  a  new  temple  designed 
by  the  architects  Rosselini  and  Baptista  Alberti.  But 
a  few  years  later,  Nicolas  V.  being  no  more,  and  the 
Venetian  Paul  II.  being  unable  to  give  more  than  five 
thousand  crowns  toward  continuing  the  work  of  his 
predecessor,  the  work  of  construction  came  to  a  standstill 
when  the  walls  were  hardly  above  ground,  and  the  effect 
produced  was  that  of  a  building  born  dead,  an  even 
more  melancholy  sight  than  a  ruin. 

As  to  the  square  itself,  it  had  not,  as  the  reader  will 
readily  understand  from  what  we  have  said  thus  far,  the 
beautiful  colonnade  by  Bernini,  nor  the  gushing  foun¬ 
tains,  nor  the  Egyptian  obelisk,  which,  according  to 
Pliny,  wTas  erected  by  Pharaoh  Nuncorus  in  the  city  of 
Pleliopolis,  and  transported  to  Rome  by  Caligula,  and  by 
him  placed  in  the  circus  of  Nero,  where  it  remained 
until  1586.  As  the  circus  of  Nero  was  situated  upon 
the  very  spot  where  St.  Peter’s  stands  to-day,  as  the  base 


THE  BORGIAS. 


11 


of  the  obelisk  covered  the  site  of  the  present  sacristy,  it 
must  then  have  seemed  to  shoot  up  like  a  gigantic 
needle  amid  the  half-hewn  columns  of  the  uneven  walls, 
and  the  rough  unfinished  blocks  of  stone. 

To  the  right  of  this  infant  ruin  rose  the  Vatican,  a 
superb  Tower  of  Babel  upon  which  all  the  famous 
architects  of  the  Roman  school  have  tried  their  hands 
for  a  thousand  years.  At  this  time  its  two  magnificent 
chapels  were  not  built,  nor  its  twelve  great  halls,  its 
twenty-two  courts,  its  thirty  staircases  and  two  thousand 
apartments  ;  for  Sextus  V.,  that  sublime  swineherd  who 
did  so  many  things  in  his  five  years’  incumbency  of  the 
papal  chair,  had  not  then  added  to  it  the  vast  eastern 
wing  overlooking  the  court  of  St.  Damasus.  But  it  was 
already  a  venerable  and  sacred  palace,  hallowed  by 
memories  of  the  olden  time,  in  which  Charlemagne  was 
entertained  when  Leo  III.  placed  the  imperial  crown 
upon  his  head. 

On  the  ninth  of  August,  1492,  all  Rome,  from  the 
Porta  del  Popolo  to  the  Coliseum,  and  from  the  Baths 
of  Diocletian  to  the  castle  of  San  Angelo  seemed  to  have 
assembled  by  appointment  upon  the  Square  of  St. 
Peter’s.  So  dense  was  the  multitude  that  it  overflowed 
into  the  adjacent  streets,  which  radiated  from  the  square 
like  the  rays  of  a  star,  and  masses  of  people  could  be 
seen,  like  a  waving,  many  colored  carpet,  swarming 
over  the  basilica,  grouped  in  clusters  on  the  blocks  of 
stone,  clinging  to  the  columns,  passing  in  at  the  doors 
of  the  houses  and  reappearing  at  the  windows,  in  such 
numbers  and  so  crowded  together  that  it  seemed  as  if 
each  window  were  walled  up  with  heads.  Now  this 
whole  vast  multitude  had  its  eyes  fixed  upon  a  single 
point  in  the  Vatican,  for  the  conclave  was  in  session 
therein,  and  as  Innocent  VIII.  had  been  dead  but 


12 


THE  BORGIAS. 


sixteen  days,  the  choice  of  a  pope  was  in  progress. 
Rome  is  the  city  of  elections ;  from  her  foundation  to 
the  present  time,  a  period  of  some  twenty-six  centuries, 
she  has  continually  elected  her  kings,  her  consuls,  her 
tribunes,  her  emperors  and  her  popes ;  so  it  is  that  Rome, 
during  the  sessions  of  the  conclave,  seems  afflicted  with 
a  peculiar  fever  which  impels  every  citizen  toward  the 
Vatican  or  Monte  Cavallo,  according  as  the  scarlet-clad 
assemblage  is  convened  in  one  or  the  other  of  those 
palaces.  In  truth,  the  accession  of  a  new  pope  is  an 
affair  of  great  moment  for  the  whole  world ;  for  the 
average  duration  of  the  reigns  of  all  the  popes  from  St. 
Peter  to  Gregory  XVI.  being  about  eight  years,  each 
period  of  eight  years  is  a  season  of  tranquillity  or  con¬ 
fusion,  of  justice  or  injustice,  of  peace  or  war,  according 
to  the  character  of  the  successful  aspirant. 

Never,  perhaps,  from  the  d  ay  when  St.  Peter’s  first 
successor  took  his  seat  on  the  pontifical  throne  down  to 
the  present  interregnum,  had  the  public  unrest  been  so 
noticeable  as  at  this  moment,  when  the  whole  popula¬ 
tion  had  assembled,  a  vast,  breathless  throng  upon  the 
Square  of  St.  Peter’s  and  the  streets  leading  to  it.  Nor 
was  this  condition  of  men’s  minds  altogether  without 
reason,  for  Innocent  VIII.  (who  was  called  the  father  of 
his  people  because  he  had  increased  the  number  of  his 
subjects  by  eight  sons  and  as  many  daughters),  after  a 
life  passed  in  debauchery,  had  breathed  his  last  after  a 
long  illness,  during  which  two  hundred  and  twenty 
murders  were  committed  in  the  streets  of  Rome,  if  we 
may  believe  the  journal  of  Stefano  Infessura. 

The  reins  of  power  passed,  according  to  the  established 
custom,  into  the  hands  of  the  cardinal  camerlingo,  who 
always  exercises  supreme  authority  during  an  interreg¬ 
num.  But  the  duties  devolving  upon  him  were  many 


THE  BORGIAS. 


13 


and  arduous.  He  had  to  attend  to  the  coining  of  money, 
stamped  with  his  name  and  arms  ;  to  the  dressing,  shav¬ 
ing  and  embalming  of  the  dead  pope’s  body,  and  laying 
it  away  after  nine  days  devoted  to  the  funeral  rites  in 
the  recess  where  the  mortal  remains  of  the  last  pope  are 
placed  provisionally  until  the  body  of  his  successor 
takes  its  place,  and  consigns  it  to  its  final  resting-place ; 
he  had  also  to  superintend  the  walling  up  of  the  doors 
of  the  apartments  in  which  the  conclave  holds  its 
sessions,  and  the  window  opening  on  the  balcony  from 
which  proclamation  of  the  election  is  made.  Conse¬ 
quently  he  had  no  time  to  devote  to  police  matters,  so 
that  the  carnival  of  murder  went  gaily  on  and  the  people 
were  loudly  calling  for  an  energetic  hand  to  force  the 
swords  and  daggers  back  into  their  sheathes. 

So  it  was  that  the  eyes  of  this  vast  multitude  were, 
as  we  have  said,  fixed  upon  the  Vatican,  and  particularly 
upon  a  certain  chimney,  whence  the  first  signal  was 
expected  to  issue,  when  suddenly,  as  the  bells  were  ring¬ 
ing  the  Ave  Maria,  that  is  to  say,  just  as  night  was 
beginning  to  fall,  loud  shouts,  mingled  with  roars  of 
laughter  rose  from  the  crowd,  a  discordant  medley  of 
threats  and  raillery.  The  demonstration  was  caused  by 
the  appearance  of  a  thin  column  of  smoke  which  issued 
from  the  top  of  the  chimney  in  question  and  rose  straight 
into  the  air.  This  smoke  was  equivalent  to  an  announce¬ 
ment  that  Rome  was  still  without  a  master,  and  that  the 
world  had  not  yet  a  new  pope ;  for  it  was  caused  by 
burning  the  ballots  in  token  that  the  cardinals  had  not 
as  yet  found  it  possible  to  agree. 

This  tiny  column  of  smoke  had  scarcely  appeared,  to 
disappear  almost  immediately,  than  the  whole  of  the 
vast  multitude,  well  aware  that  nothing  more  was  to  be 
expected  that  night  and  that  the  proceedings  were 


14 


THE  BORGIAS. 


suspended  until  ten  o’clock  the  next  morning,  the  hour 
at  which  the  cardinals  began  their  voting  for  the  day, — 
the  multitude,  we  say,  withdrew  in  an  uproarious,  satiri¬ 
cal  mood,  as  the  crowd  scatters  after  the  last  piece  of 
an  exhibition  of  fireworks  ;  so  that  in  a  very  short  time, 
on  the  spot  where  a  whole  city  was  collected  a  few 
moments  before,  no  one  was  to  be  seen  save  a  few  belated 
sightseers  who  lived  in  the  neighborhood  or  upon  the 
square  itself,  and  were,  therefore,  in  less  haste  than  the 
others  to  return  home.  But  these  last  groups  dwindled 
away  gradually  by  the  time  that  the  clocks  rang  the 
half  after  nine,  for  at  that  hour  the  streets  began  to  be 
unsafe,  and  soon  the  silence  was  broken  only  by  the 
hurried  step  of  some  solitary  passer-by.  The  doors 
closed  one  after  another,  the  lights  that  shone  in  the 
windows  were  extinguished,  and  when  ten  o’clock  struck, 
houses,  squares  and  streets  were  plunged  in  utter  dark¬ 
ness,  save  for  one  of  the  windows  of  the  Vatican,  in 
which  a  light  was  still  burning. 

As  the  clock  struck,  a  man  wrapped  in  a  cloak  rose 
like  a  shadow  against  one  of  the  columns  of  the  unfin¬ 
ished  basilica  and,  creeping  slowly  and  cautiously  among 
the  blocks  of  stone  which  lay  around  the  foundations  of 
the  new  temple,  walked  out  as  far  as  the  fountain  which 
stood  in  the  centre  of  the  square  on  the  present  site  of 
the  obelisk  of  which  we  have  already  spoken.  There 
he  stopped,  doubly  concealed  by  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  and  the  shadow  of  the  fountain,  and  having 
looked  around  to  make  sure  that  he  was  alone,  he  drew 
his  sword  and  struck  its  point  three  times  upon  the 
pavement,  striking  fire  at  every  blow.  This  signal,  for 
such  it  was,  did  not  pass  unnoticed ;  the  solitary  lamp 
which  was  still  burning  in  the  Vatican  at  once  went  out 
and,  at  the  same  moment  a  packet  was  thrown  from  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


15 


window,  and  struck  the  ground  a  few  steps  away  from 
the  man  in  the  cloak.  Guided  unerringly  by  the  metallic 
sound  which  it  gave  forth  when  it  came  in  contact  with 
the  flagstones,  he  put  his  hand  upon  it  at  once,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  darkness  and,  as  soon  as  he  had  it  in  his 
possession,  walked  rapidly  away. 

He  maintained  his  swift  pace  without  pausing,  half 
way  along  Borgo-Vecchio,  when  he  turned  to  the  right 
down  a  street  at  the  end  of  which  was  a  madonna  with 
her  lighted  lamp.  He  drew  near  the  lamp  and  took 
from  his  pocket  the  object  he  had  picked  up,  which  was 
neither  more  nor  less  than  a  Roman  crown,  but  it  was 
so  made  as  to  unscrew,  leaving  a  hole  in  the  centre,  in 
which  was  a  letter,  which  he  to  whom  it  was  addressed 
began  to  read  at  the  risk  of  being  recognized,  in  such 
haste  was  he  to  learn  its  contents. 

We  say  at  the  risk  of  being  recognized  because,  in 
his  eagerness,  the  nocturnal  prowler  threw  back  the 
hood  of  his  cloak  and,  as  his  head  was  fairly  within  the 
circle  of  light  shed  by  the  lamp,  it  was  easy  to  distin¬ 
guish  the  features  of  a  handsome  youth  of  some  twenty- 
five  or  twenty-six  years,  clad  in  a  violet  doublet,  slashed 
at  shoulder  and  elbow,  so  as  to  show  his  shirt,  and  hav¬ 
ing  upon  his  head  a  cap  of  the  same  color,  with  a  long 
black  plume  drooping  over  his  shoulder.  To  be  sure, 
his  halt  was  not  a  long  one,  for  he  had  no  sooner  finished 
reading  the  letter,  or  rather  the  note,  which  had  been 
conveyed  to  him  in  such  an  unusual  and  mysterious 
way,  than  he  replaced  it  in  his  silver  wallet  and,  rear¬ 
ranging  his  cloak  so  that  it  concealed  all  the  lower  part 
of  his  face,  started  off  again  at  the  same  swift  pace, 
passed  through  Borgo  San-Spirito  and  turned  into  Via 
della  Longara,  which  he  followed  as  far  as  the  Church 
of  Regina  Coeli.  When  he  reached  that  point  he 


16 


THE  BOKGIAS. 


knocked  three  times  at  the  door  of  a  handsome  house. 
The  door  was  immediately  opened,  and  he  ran  swiftly 
up  the  staircase  into  a  room  where  two  women  were 
awaiting  him  with  evident  impatience. 

“Well!  Francesco,  what  news?”  they  cried  in  uni¬ 
son  as  soon  as  he  appeared. 

“  Good  news,  mother !  good  news,  sister !  ”  he  replied, 
kissing  the  one  and  giving  his  hand  to  the  other  ;  “  our 
father  has  gained  three  votes  to-day,  but  he  still  lacks 
six  of  a  majority.” 

“  Pray,  is  there  no  means  of  purchasing  them  ?  ”  cried 
the  elder  of  the  ladies,  while  the  other,  without  speak¬ 
ing,  seconded  the  inquiry  with  an  eloquent  look. 

“  Yes,  indeed,  mother,”  the  youth  replied,  “  and  that 
selfsame  thought  occurred  to  my  father.  He  gives 
Cardinal  Orsino  his  palace  at  Rome  with  his  castles  of 
Monticello  and  Soriano ;  to  Cardinal  Colonna  the  abbey 
of  Subiaco ;  to  Cardinal  St.  Angelo  the  bishop’s  palace 
at  Porto,  with  its  furniture  and  wine-cellar;  to  the 
Cardinal  of  Parma  the  town  of  Nepi ;  to  the  Cardinal 
of  Genoa  the  Church  of  Santa-Maria-in-via-Lata ;  and 
to  Cardinal  Savelli  the  Church  of  Santa-Maria  Mag- 
giore,  and  the  town  of  Civita-Castellana ;  as  for  Cardi¬ 
nal  Ascanio  Sforza  he  knows  that  we  sent  him  day 
before  yesterday  four  mules  laden  with  money  and  plate, 
and  he  has  undertaken  to  hand  five  thousand  ducats  to 
the  Cardinal  Patriarch  of  Venice.” 

“  But  how  are  we  to  make  known  Rodrigo’s  inten¬ 
tions  to  the  others  ?  ”  asked  the  elder  woman. 

“  My  father  has  anticipated  everything,  and  has  in¬ 
vented  a  very  simple  means ;  you  know,  my  mother, 
how  much  ceremony  is  used  about  carrying  their  dinner 
to  the  cardinals.” 


THE  BORGIAS. 


17 


“Yes,  it  is  carried  on  a  litter,  in  a  great  basket  bearing 
the  arms  of  the  cardinal  for  whom  it  is  intended.” 

“  My  father  has  purchased  the  bishop  who  inspects 
the  dinners ;  to-morrow  is  a  flesh  day,  and  chickens  for 
roasting  will  be  sent  to  Cardinals  Orsino,  Colonna, 
Savelli,  St.  Angelo,  Parma  and  Genoa;  each  chicken 
will  contain  a  deed  of  gift  in  due  form,  executed  by  me 
in  my  father’s  name,  of  the  houses,  palaces  or  churches 
destined  for  each  recipient.” 

“  Excellent,”  said  his  mother ;  “  now  I  am  sure  that 
all  will  go  well.” 

“  And  by  the  grace  of  God,”  interposed  the  younger 
woman  with  an  ironical  smile,  “  our  father  will  be 
pope.” 

“  A  happy  day  for  us !  ”  exclaimed  Francesco. 

“  And  for  Christianity,”  rejoined  his  sister  with  still 
greater  irony. 

“  Lucrezia,  Lucrezia,”  said  the  mother,  “  you  do  not 
deserve  the  happiness  which  is  in  store  for  us.” 

“  What  matters  it,  if  it  comes  all  the  same  ?  Besides, 
you  know  the  old  proverb  mother  mine :  ‘  Large  fami¬ 
lies  are  blessed  of  the  Lord,’  so  what  may  we  not  expect 
for  ours  which  bears  so  strong  a  resemblance  to  those  of 
the  patriarchs  ?  ” 

As  she  spoke  she  cast  upon  her  brother  a  look  of  such 
significance  that  the  young  man  blushed ;  but  as  he  had 
other  things  to  think  of  for  the  moment  than  his  inces¬ 
tuous  love,  he  ordered  four  servants  to  be  awakened ; 
and  while  they  were  dressing  and  arming  themselves  to 
attend  him,  he  signed  the  six  deeds  of  gift  to  be  sent  to 
the  cardinals  the  following  day  ;  for,  as  he  did  not  wish 
to  be  seen  at  their  places  of  abode,  it  had  occurred  to 
him  to  deliver  them  under  cover  of  the  darkness  to  the 
confidential  servants  who  were  to  see  that  they  were 

Vol.  II.— 2. 


18 


THE  BORGIAS. 


handed  them  at  the  dinner  hour  as  agreed.  When  the 
documents  were  executed  in  proper  form,  and  the  ser¬ 
vants  ready,  he  went  away  with  them,  leaving  the  two 
women  to  dream  golden  dreams  of  their  future  gran¬ 
deur. 

At  early  dawn  the  people  came  hurrying  to  the  square 
again,  as  eager  and  excited  as  before,  and  at  ten  o’clock 
in  the  morning  the  column  of  smoke  began  again  its 
accustomed  task  of  announcing,  amid  laughter  and 
imprecations,  that  no  one  of  the  cardinals  had  secured  a 
majority.  The  report  began  to  gain  currency,  however, 
that  the  choice  was  narrowed  down  to  three  aspirants, 
Rodrigo  Borgia,  Guilio  della  Rovere,  and  Ascanio 
Sforza  ;  for  the  people  knew  nothing  of  the  four  mules 
laden  with  plate  and  money  which  had  been  sent  to  the 
last  named,  and  in  consideration  of  which  he  had  turned 
his  votes  over  to  his  rival. 

At  the  height  of  the  excitement  caused  by  this  fresh 
diversion,  the  sound  of  sacred  music  was  heard  ;  it  came 
from  a  procession  of  monks,  ordered  by  the  cardinal 
camerlingo  as  a  means  of  inducing  heaven  to  decree  the 
prompt  election  of  a  pope,  and  was  on  its  way  from  the 
Church  of  Ava  Coeli  to  the  capitol,  stopping  before  the 
principal  Madonnas,  and  in  the  most  frequented 
churches.  As  soon  as  the  crucifix  which  was  carried  at 
the  head  of  the  procession  appeared,  absolute  silence 
fell  upon  the  crowd,  and  every  one  kneeled  where  he 
stood ;  a  period  of  silent,  devout  meditation  succeeded 
the  tumult  and  confusion  which  had  reigned  supreme  a 
few  moments  earlier,  and  assumed  a  more  threatening 
character  at  each  fresh  column  of  smoke.  Many  people 
believed  that  the  procession  was  intended  to  serve  a 
political,  as  well  as  a  religious  end,  and  that  its  influence 
was  likely  to  be  as  great  on  earth  as  in  heaven.  At  all 


THE  BORGIAS. 


19 


events  if  such  was  the  design  of  the  camerlingo,  he  was 
not  at  fault,  and  the  effect  produced  was  such  as  he  de¬ 
sired  ;  when  the  procession  had  passed  on,  although  the 
laughter  and  horse-play  continued,  the  shouts  and 
threats  were  heard  no  more.  Thus  the  day  slipped  by, 
for  at  Rome  no  one  works  ;  every  one  is  either  a  cardinal 
or  a  lackey,  and  lives,  one  knows  not  how.  The  crowd 
was  more  dense  than  ever  about  two  in  the  afternoon, 
when  another  procession,  which  was  as  successful  in 
causing  renewed  uproar,  as  the  earlier  one  in  enforcing 
silence,  crossed  the  square  of  St.  Peter’s ;  it  was  the 
dinner  procession.  The  people  greeted  it  with  their  cus¬ 
tomary  shouts  of  laughter,  with  no  suspicion,  in  their 
irreverence,  that  this  second  procession  was  more  effica¬ 
cious  than  the  first,  in  that  it  was  to  be  the  means  of 
making  a  new  pope. 

The  Ave  Maria  rang  as  on  the  preceding  day,  and 
found  expectation  disappointed  once  again;  as  the 
clocks  struck  half  after  eight,  the  smoke  appeared  once 
more  at  the  mouth  of  the  chimney.  But  as  a  report 
was  at  the  same  time  sent  out  from  within  the  Vatican, 
to  the  effect  that  there  would  in  all  probability  be  an 
election  the  next  day,  the  good  people  possessed  their 
souls  in  patience.  It  had  been  a  very  hot  day,  too,  and 
accustomed .  as  they  were  to  shade  and  idleness,  they  were 
so  exhausted,  and  so  scorched  by  the  sun  that  they  had 
not  the  strength  to  shout. 

The  following  morning,  August  11,  1492,  was  dark 
and  stormy,  but  the  crowd  was  not  prevented  thereby 
from  thronging  as  before,  the  streets,  squares,  doorways, 
houses  and  churches.  Indeed  the  state  of  the  weather 
was  a  downright  blessing  to  them,  for  though  it  was  still 
hot,  there  was  no  scorching  sun. 

Toward  nine  o’clock  a  terrific  storm  burst  over  the 


20 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Transtevere ;  but  what  mattered  rain,  lightning  and 
thunder !  The  people  were  thinking  about  something 
entirely  different,  they  were  expecting  their  pope ;  he 
had  been  promised  them  that  day,  and  it  was  easy  to  see 
from  the  prevailing  temper  that  there  would  be  trouble 
if  the  day  passed  without  an  election.  As  the  hours 
flew  by,  the  excitement  became  constantly  more  intense. 
Nine  o’clock  struck,  half  after  nine,  and  quarter  to  ten, 
and  nothing  transpired  to  fulfill  or  wreck  their  hopes. 
At  last  the  first  stroke  of  ten  rang  out,  and  all  eyes  were 
fixed  on  the  chimney ;  the  strokes  followed  each  other 
slowly,  and  each  found  an  echo  in  the  great  heart  of  the 
multitude.  The  tenth  and  last  stroke  died  tremblingly 
away  in  space,  and  a  tremendous  shout  from  a  hundred 
thousand  throats  succeeded  the  deathlike  silence  : 

“  Non  v’e  fumo  !  There  is  no  smoke !  ” 

That  is  to  say  :“We  have  a  pope.”  At  that  moment 
the  rain  began  to  fall ;  but  it  fell  unheeded,  so  great 
were  the  joy  and  impatience  of  the  populace.  At  last  a 
small  stone  fell  from  the  walled-up  window  opening  on 
the  balcony,  on  which  all  eyes  were  fastened  ;  a  roar  of 
applause  greeted  its  fall.  The  opening  gradually 
increased  in  size,  and  in  a  few  moments  was  sufficiently 
large  to  allow  a  man  to  step  out  upon  the  balcony. 

Thereupon  Cardinal  Ascanio  Sforza’s  face  appeared ; 
but  just  as  he  was  in  the  act  of  stepping  forth  he  seemed 
to  take  alarm  at  the  thunder  and  lightning,  hesitated  a 
moment,  and  finally  retreated.  Immediately  the  whole 
multitude  burst  out  with  the  fury  of  a  tempest,  shouting, 
yelling  and  cursing,  and  threatening  to  demolish  the 
Vatican  and  seek  the  pope  for  themselves.  At  that, 
Cardinal  Sforza,  more  alarmed  by  the  storm  of  popu¬ 
lar  indignation  than  by  the  raging  of  the  elements, 
came  out  upon  the  balcony,  and  made  the  following 


THE  BORGIAS. 


21 


announcement  between  two  peals  of  thunder,  and  amid 
a  breathless  silence  which  seemed  incomprehensible  to 
one  who  had  heard  the  uproar  which  preceded  it : 

“  I  am  the  messenger  of  glad  tidings :  the  Most  Illus¬ 
trious  and  Most  Reverend  Signor  Rodrigo  Lenzuolo 
Borgia,  Archbishop  of  Valencia,  Cardinal  Deacon  of 
San  Nicolas-in-Carcere,  and  Vice  Chancellor  of  the 
hierarchy,  has  been  chosen  pope,  and  has  assumed  the 
name  of  Alexander  VI.” 

The  news  of  this  selection  was  greeted  with  outspoken 
satisfaction.  Rodrigo  Borgia  had  the  reputation  of 
being  a  dissolute  man,  it  is  true,  but  libertinage  ascended 
the  papal  throne  with  Sextus  V.  and  Innocent  VIII.,  so 
that  there  was  nothing  novel  to  the  Romans  in  the  strange 
spectacle  of  a  pope  with  a  mistress  and  five  children. 
The  most  essential  thing  at  the  moment  was  that  the 
power  should  fall  into  strong  hands,  and  it  was  even 
more  important  for  the  tranquillity  of  the  Holy  City 
that  the  new  pope  should  inherit  the  sword  of  St.  Paul 
than  the  keys  of  St.  Peter. 

In  like  manner,  the  dominating  characteristic  of  the 
fetes  which  were  given  on  this  occasion  was  the  predom¬ 
inance  of  the  martial  element  over  the  religious ;  and  it 
seemed  as  if  they  were  celebrating  the  accession  of  a 
young  conqueror  to  a  temporal  throne,  rather  than  the 
election  of  a  gray-haired  cardinal  to  the  papal  chair. 
Nothing  was  to  be  seen  or  heard  but  prophetic  inscrip¬ 
tions  and  word-play  upon  the  name  of  Alexander,  which 
for  the  second  time  seemed  to  promise  universal  empire 
to  the  Romans.  On  the  very  evening  after  the  election, 
indeed,  amid  the  brilliant  illuminations  and  blaze  of 
fireworks,  which  transformed  the  city  into  one  vast  lake 
of  fire,  the  following  inscription  was  greeted  with  frantic 
applause  by  the  people : 


22 


t 


THE  BORGIAS. 


“  Under  Csesar  in  former  days  the  victories  of  the 
Roman  arms  made  Rome  a  queen  at  home,  and  mistress 
of  the  whole  world;  but  Alexander  will  promote  her 
glory  even  more  than  Csesar ;  for  Csesar  was  but  a  man, 
while  Alexander  is  a  god.” 

The  new  pope  had  no  sooner  gone  through  with  the 
necessary  formalities  attendant  upon  his  exaltation  and 
paid  to  each  of  the  cardinals  the  stipulated  price  of  his 
simony  than  he  cast  his  eyes  from  the  commanding 
eminence  of  the  Vatican  upon  that  vast  political  chess¬ 
board  known  as  Europe,  upon  which  he  hoped  to 
control  the  movements  of  the  pieces  according  to  the 
dictates  of  his  genius. 

The  world  had  arrived  at  one  of  those  critical  periods 
of  transformation  which  mark  the  closing  of  one  epoch 
and  the  opening  of  another.  In  the  East,  Turkey ;  in 
the  South,  Spain  ;  in  the  West,  France  ;  and  in  the  North, 
Germany,  were  on  the  point  of  assuming,  with  the  rank 
of  great  nations,  the  influence  which  they  were  destined 
to  exert  in  the  future  over  states  of  secondary  importance. 

Let  us  then,  with  Alexander,  take  a  rapid  survey  of 
them,  and  see  what  their  respective  attitudes  were  with 
regard  to  Italy,  upon  which  the  covetous  eyes  of  all 
were  longingly  fixed. 

Constantine  Paleologus  Dragozes,  besieged  by  three 
hundred  thousand  Turks,  appealed  in  vain  to  all  Chris¬ 
tendom  for  aid ;  he  was  determined  not  to  survive  the 
loss  of  his  empire,  and  was  found  among  the  dead  near 
the  Tophana  Gate  when  Mahomet  II.  entered  Constanti¬ 
nople  on  the  thirtieth  of  May,  1453.  After  a  long 
reign,  which  earned  for  him  the  surname  of  Fatile,  or 
the  Conqueror,  Mahomet  died,  leaving  two  sons,  the 
elder  of  whom  ascended  the  throne  under  the  title  of 
Bajazet  II. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


23 


The  new  Sultan’s  accession,  however,  was  not  effected 
with  the  ease  which  his  right  of  primogeniture  and  his 
father’s  choice  promised.  Djein,  his  younger  brother, 
better  known  as  Zizim,  based  his  claim  upon  the  fact 
that  he  was  Porpliyrogmitus ,*  that  is  to  say  that  he  was 
born  after  Mahomet  became  sultan,  while  Bajazet,  whose 
birth  antedated  his  father’s  accession,  was  naught  but 
the  son  of  a  private  individual.  It  was  a  wretched 
quibble,  but  in  a  land  where  might  makes  right,  it  was 
sufficient  ground  for  a  war.  The  two  brothers,  each  at 
the  head  of  an  army,  met  on  Asian  territory  in  1482. 
Djein  was  defeated  after  a  battle  lasting  seven  hours. 
Hotly  pursued  by  his  brother,  wTho  gave  him  no  time  to 
collect  the  scattered  remnant  of  his  army,  he  was  com¬ 
pelled  to  take  ship  at  a  seaport  in  Cilicia,  and  make  his 
escape  to  Rhodes,  where  he  sought  the  protection  of  the 
Knights  of  St.  John.  They  did  not  dare  to  offer  him 
an  asylum  on  their  island  which  lay  so  near  to  the  coast 
of  Asia,  but  sent  him  to  France,  where  he  was  kept  under 
close  guard  in  one  of  their  commanderies,  notwithstand¬ 
ing  the  urgent  entreaties  of  Cait  Bey,  Sultan  of  Egypt, 
who  was  in  revolt  against  Bajazet,  and  wished  to  have 
the  young  prince  in  his  army  to  give  his  rebellion  some 
similitude  to  lawful  warfare.  A  similar  request  was 
made,  with  a  similar  object,  by  Mathias  Corvinus,  King 
of  Hungary;  Ferdinand,  King  of  Aragon  and  Sicily, 
and  Ferdinand  of  Naples. 

Bajazet,  who  was  well  aware  of  the  danger  of  such  a 
rival,  if  he  should  once  enter  into  an  alliance  with  any 
one  of  the  princes  with  whom  he  was  at  war,  sent  am¬ 
bassadors  to  Charles  VIII.  of  France,  offering  him,  if  he 
would  agree  to  detain  Djein  in  his  dominions,  a  consid¬ 
erable  pension,  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  Holy  Land 

*  Born  to  the  purple. 


24 


THE  BORGIAS. 


as  soon  as  Jerusalem  should  be  wrested  from  the  Sultan 
of  Egypt.  The  French  king  accepted,  but  thereupon 
Innocent  VIII.  intervened,  and  put  in  a  claim  of  his 
own  to  Djein,  ostensibly  to  procure  the  support  of  his 
name  to  a  crusade  he  was  preaching  against  the  Turks, 
but  in  reality  to  put  his  hand  upon  the  pension  of  forty 
thousand  ducats  promised  by  Bajazet  to  any  one  of  the 
princes  of  Christendom,  who  would  undertake  to  be  his 
brother’s  gaoler. 

Charles  VIII.  did  not  dare  to  refuse  a  request  of  the 
spiritual  head  of  the  Christian  world,  when  supported 
by  such  blessed  arguments ;  so  that  Djein  left  France, 
in  company  with  D’Aubusson,  Grand  Master  of  the 
Knights  of  St.  John,  in  whose  special  charge  he  was, 
and  who  had  agreed  to  give  him  up  in  consideration  of 
a  cardinal’s  hat. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  March,  1489,  the  unfortunate 
youth,  upon  whom  so  many  conflicting  interests  were 
centred,  made  his  formal  entry  into  Rome,  mounted 
upon  a  noble  horse,  and  clad  in  a  superb  Eastern  cos¬ 
tume,  between  the  Prior  of  Auvergne,  nephew  of 
D’Aubusson,  and  Francesco  Cibo,  the  pope’s  son. 

He  had  remained  at  Rome  ever  since,  and  Bajazet, 
true  to  the  promise  which  he  had  such  a  vital  interest 
in  keeping,  had  paid  the  sovereign  pontiff  his  pension  of 
forty  thousand  ducats  with  scrupulous  promptitude. 

So  much  for  Turkey. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  the  rulers  of  Spain,  and 
were  laying  the  foundations  of  that  world-wide  domin¬ 
ion,  which  made  it  possible  for  Charles  V.  to  say,  twenty- 
five  years  later,  that  the  sun  did  not  set  upon  his  terri¬ 
tories.  These  two  sovereigns,  who  are  known  to  history 
by  the  distinctive  name  of  “  Catholic,”  had  made  them¬ 
selves  masters  of  every  part  of  Spain,  one  after  another, 


THE  BORGIAS. 


25 


and  driven  the  Moors  from  Granada,  their  last  foothold 
in  the  peninsula ;  while  two  men  of  daring  and  genius, 
Bartholomew  Diaz  and  Christopher  Columbus,  were 
discovering  for  their  benefit,  one  a  lost  world,  and  the 
other  a  world,  the  existence  of  which  was  unsuspected. 
By  virtue  of  their  victories  in  the  old  world,  and  their 
discoveries  in  the  new,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had 
acquired  a  degree  of  influence  at  the  court  of  Rome 
which  none  of  their  predecessors  had  enjoyed. 

So  much  for  Spain. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  August,  1483,  Charles  VIII.  be¬ 
came  King  of  France,  in  succession  to  his  father,  Louis 
XI.,  who,  by  numberless  executions,  had  reduced  the 
kingdom  to  a  state  of  tranquillity  befitting  the  accession 
of  an  infant  and  the  regency  of  a  woman.  A  glorious 
regency  it  was,  too,  and  resulted  in  demolishing  the  pre¬ 
tensions  of  the  princes  of  the  blood,  and  in  putting  an 
end  to  civil  strife  by  uniting  to  the  crown  all  the  re¬ 
maining  great  independent  fiefs.  At  the  time  of  which 
we  are  writing  Charles  VIII.  was  about  twenty-two 
years  of  age,  and  was,  if  we  may  believe  La  Tremouille, 
a  prince  of  great  heart,  though  small  in  stature.  On 
the  other  hand,  according  to  Commenes,  he  was  a  mere 
child,  hardly  fit  to  leave  the  nest,  without  wit  or  money, 
physically  weak,  inordinately  self-willed,  and  surrounded 
by  fools,  instead  of  wise  counsellors.  Lastly,  according 
to  the  estimate  of  Guicciardini,  who,  being  an  Italian 
may  be  somewhat  prejudiced,  he  was  a  young  man  little 
skilled  in  the  motives  which  govern  men’s  actions,  but 
was  carried  away  by  an  ardent  desire  to  make  his  reign 
a  glorious  one — a  desire  due  rather  to  his  fickle-minded- 
ness  and  impulsiveness,  than  to  a  conviction  of  his  own 
genius ;  he  abhorred  fatigue  and  business  of  all  kinds, 
and  when  he  did  try  to  fix  his  attention  upon  it,  he 


26 


THE  BORGIAS. 


« 


almost  always  showed  himself  to  be  devoid  of  caution 
and  judgment.  If,  by  chance,  anything  about  him  did 
seem  at  first  glance  to  be  worthy  of  praise,  a  closer 
inspection  generally  developed  the  fact  that  there  was 
more  vice  than  virtue  in  it.  He  was  liberal,  it  is  true, 
but  his  liberality  was  without  rhyme  or  reason.  He  was 
sometimes  immovable  in  his  determination,  but  from  ob¬ 
stinacy,  and  not  from  well-grounded  conviction ;  and 
what  his  flatterers  called  amiability  much  better  de¬ 
served  the  name  of  insensibility  to  insult,  or  faint-heart¬ 
edness. 

If  the  last  quoted  author  is  to  be  believed  his  physical 
appearance  was  even  less  attractive  and  corresponded 
wonderfully  well  with  his  feebleness  of  mind  and  char¬ 
acter.  He  was  very  small,  with  an  enormous  head,  a 
short,  thick  neck,  high,  broad  shoulders,  and  long,  thin 
legs  and  thighs  ;  as  his  face  was  exceptionally  ugly,  ex¬ 
cept  for  his  glance,  which  had  some  little  dignity  and 
force,  and  as  his  limbs  were  out  of  all  proportion  to  each 
other,  he  looked  more  like  a  monster  than  a  man. 

Such  was  the  man  whom  fortune  destined  for  a  career 
of  conquest,  and  for  whom  heaven  had  greater  glory  in 
store  than  he  could  bear. 

So  much  for  France. 

The  Imperial  throne  was  occupied  by  Frederic  III., 
well  surnamed  the  Peaceful,  not  because  he  had  always 
preserved  peace,  but  because  he  was  constantly  whipped, 
and  so  was  always  driven  to  sue  for  peace.  The  first 
proof  he  gave  of  this  philosophical  forbearance  was 
during  his  journey  to  Pome  to  be  crowned.  While 
crossing  the  Apennines  he  was  attacked  by  brigands, 
who  robbed  him,  but  whom  he  made  no  attempt  to  cap¬ 
ture.  The  immunity  from  punishment  enjoyed  by  these 
petty  thieves  soon  encouraged  those  who  did  business  on 


THE  BORGIAS. 


27 


a  larger  scale  to  take  a  hand.  Amurath  seized  a  part 
of  Hungary,  Mathias  Corvin  laid  hold  of  Lower  Aus¬ 
tria,  and  Frederic  consoled  himself  for  these  invasions 
by  repeating  the  maxim  : 

“  Forgetfulness  is  the  only  remedy  for  the  loss  of  what 
one  holds  dear.” 

At  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing  he  had  reigned 
fifty-three  years ;  he  had  just  arranged  a  marriage  be¬ 
tween  his  son  Maximilian  and  Marie  de  Bourgogne,  and 
had  placed  his  son-in-law,  Albert  of  Bavaria,  under  the 
ban  of  the  empire,  because  he  had  put  forward  a  claim 
to  the  Tyrol.  He  was  too  much  engrossed  with  his  own 
affairs,  therefore,  to  have  much  time  to  give  to  Italy. 
Furthermore,  he  was  engaged  in  the  quest  for  a  devise 
for  the  House  of  Austria,  a  matter  of  much  greater 
moment  to  a  man  of  his  disposition.  This  devise,  which 
Charles  V.  was  almost  to  realize,  was  at  last  found,  to 
the  great  delight  of  the  old  Emperor,  who  concluded 
that  there  was  nothing  more  for  him  to  do  on  earth  after 
this  last  proof  of  his  wisdom ;  and  so  he  died,  August 
19,  1493,  leaving  the  empire  to  his  son  Maximilian. 

This  devise  was  nothing  more  than  the  five  vowels, 
A,  E,  I,  O,  U,  representing  the  initial  letters  of  these 
five  words : 

Austriae  Est  Imperare  Orbi  Uni  verso. 

It  is  Austria’s  destiny  to  rule  the  whole  world. 

So  much  for  Germany. 

Now  that  we  have  taken  a  cursory  glance  at  the  four 
nations,  which,  as  we  have  said,  were  in  a  fair  way  to 
become  European  powers  of  first-rate  importance,  let  us 
look  for  a  moment  at  the  second-rate  States,  which 
formed  a  circle  about  Rome  nearer  at  hand,  and  would 
serve  as  a  buckler  for  the  spiritual  queen  of  the  world, 
if  the  fancy  should  seize  one  of  the  political  giants  we 


28 


THE  BORGIAS. 


have  described  to  stretch  out  his  arms  to  attack  her, 
across  the  Adriatic  or  the  Alps,  the  Mediterranean  or 
the  Apennines. 

These  States  were  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  the  Duchy 
of  Milan,  the  magnificent  Republic  of  Florence,  and 
the  most  serene  Republic  of  Venice. 

The  Kingdom  of  Naples  was  in  the  hands  of  the  aged 
Ferdinand,  whose  birth  was  not  only  illegitimate,  but 
probably  incestuous  as  well.  His  father,  Alphonso  of 
Aragon,  inherited  the  crown  from  Joanna  of  Naples, 
who  adopted  him  as  her  successor.  But  in  order  to 
guard  against  the  possibility  of  a  failure  of  heirs,  she 
named  two,  instead  of  one,  as  she  lay  dying,  so  that 
Alphonso  had  to  maintain  his  rights  against  Rene.  The 
rival  claimants  quarreled  over  the  crown  for  some  time, 
but  at  last  the  house  of  Aragon  prevailed  over  the 
house  of  Anjou,  and  during  the  year  1442,  Alphonso’s 
title  was  definitely  established.  We  shall  soon  find 
Charles  VIII.  asserting  the  rights  of  the  rejected 
claimant. 

Ferdinand  had  neither  the  personal  courage  nor  the 
intellect  of  his  father,  and  yet  he  triumphed  over  his 
enemies  one  after  another.  He  had  two  rivals,  either 
of  whom  was  his  superior  in  every  respect.  One  was 
his  nephew,  the  Count  of  Viana,  who  used  his  uncle’s 
illegitimacy  as  a  pretext,  and  won  over  all  the  Aragon¬ 
ese  party ;  the  other  was  Duke  John  of  Calabria,  who 
was  at  the  head  of  the  Angevin  faction.  Nevertheless 
he  held  them  both  off,  and  maintained  himself  upon  the 
throne  by  adopting  a  cautious  line  of  action,  which 
often  amounted  to  duplicity.  He  had  a  cultivated  mind 
and  had  been  a  student  of  the  sciences,  especially  of  the 
science  of  legislation.  He  was  of  medium  height,  with 
a  large,  well-shaped  head ;  his  face  was  open  and  honest 


THE  BORGIAS. 


29 


and  surrounded  by  beautiful  white  hair,  which  fell  over 
his  shoulders.  Lastly,  although  he  had  done  but  little 
to  cultivate  his  physical  strength  by  martial  exercises,  it 
was  so  great  that  one  day  in  the  market  place  at  Naples, 
he  seized  a  runaway  bull  by  the  horns  and  stopped  him 
in  his  tracks,  despite  his  desperate  struggles  to  escape. 

The  election  of  Alexander  caused  him  great  uneasi¬ 
ness,  and  discreet  as  he  ordinarily  was,  he  let  the  remark 
escape  him,  in  the  presence  of  the  messenger  who  brought 
him  the  news,  that  he  wTas  not  pleased  with  the  choice, 
nor  did  he  see  how  any  Christian  could  be,  for  Borgia 
had  always  been  a  bad  man  and  would  certainly  be  a 
bad  pope.  He  added  that  even  if  the  choice  were 
an  unexceptionable  one  and  calculated  to  gratify  every¬ 
body  else,  it  was  no  less  certain  to  be  fatal  to  the  house 
of  Aragon,  inasmuch  as  he  was  born  a  subject  of  that 
house,  and  owed  to  it  the  rise  and  progress  of  his  for¬ 
tune  ;  for  wherever  reasons  of  State  are  involved,  they 
speedily  cause  the  closest  ties  of  kinship  and  affection 
to  be  forgotten,  much  more  the  simple  relation  of  subject 
and  debtor. 

We  see  that  Ferdinand  gauged  Alexander  with  his 
usual  perspicacity,  which  did  not  prevent  him,  however, 
as  will  soon  appear,  from  being  the  first  to  form  an  alli¬ 
ance  with  him. 

The  Duchy  of  Milan  belonged  nominally  to  Giovanni 
Galeasso,  grandson  of  Francesco  Sforza,  who  took 
forcible  possession  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  February, 
1450,  and  bequeathed  it  to  his  son,  Galeasso  Mario, 
father  of  the  youthful  reigning  prince ;  we  say  nomi¬ 
nally  because  the  real  master  of  the  Milanais  at  this 
time  was  not  the  lawful  heir,  but  his  uncle,  Ludovico, 
surnamed  II  Moro,  because  of  the  mulberry  tree  which 
figured  in  his  coat  of  arms.  Exiled  with  his  two 


30 


THE  BORGIAS. 


brothers,  Philip,  who  was  poisoned  in  1479,  and  Ascanio, 
afterward  cardinal,  he  returned  to  Milan  a  few  days 
after  the  assassination  of  Galeasso  Mario,  which  took 
place  in  the  Church  of  San  Stefano,  December  26, 1476, 
and  assumed  the  regency,  the  Duke  being  then  but  eight 
years  old.  From  that  time,  although  his  nephew  was 
now  twenty-two,  Ludovico  had  continued  to  govern  the 
State,  and  in  all  probability  would  continue  to  do  so  for 
a  long  time  to  come ;  for  a  day  or  two  after  the  young 
Duke  manifested  a  purpose  to  take  the  reins  into  his 
own  hands,  he  fell  suddenly  ill,  and  it  was  said  openly 
that  he  had  taken  one  of  those  lingering,  deadly  poisons, 
which  the  princes  of  that  day  resorted  to  so  frequently 
that,  even  when  a  malady  was  due  to  natural  causes, 
people  always  sought  to  attribute  it  to  some  hidden 
motive.  However  it  may  have  been,  Ludovico  had  sent 
his  nephew,  who  was  too  weak  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of 
his  duchy,  to  the  Castle  of  Pavia,  where  he  was  pining 
away  under  the  care  of  his  wife,  who  was  a  daughter  of 
Ferdinand  of  Naples. 

Ludovico,  himself,  was  an  ambitious  mortal,  very  bold 
and  very  deep,  equally  familiar  with  the  sword  and  with 
poison,  which  he  used  indifferently,  as  occasion  offered, 
without  any  decided  preference  or  repugnance  for  either, 
and  he  was  thoroughly  determined  to  inherit  from  his 
nephew  whether  he  died  or  did  not  die. 

Although  Florence  still  retained  the  name  of  a 
republic,  it  had  gradually  lost  all  the  advantages  of  that 
form  of  government,  and  belonged  in  fact,  if  not  of 
right,  to  Pietro  dei  Medici,  to  whom  Lorenzo  bequeathed 
it  as  part  of  his  inheritance,  at  the  peril  of  his  soul’s 
salvation.  Unfortunately  the  son  had  little  of  the 
father’s  genius ;  he  was  handsome,  it  is  true,  while 
Lorenzo  was  extremely  ugly  ;  his  voice  was  harmonious 


THE  BORGIAS. 


31 


and  pleasant  to  listen  to,  while  Lorenzo  always  talked 
through  his  nose ;  he  was  proficient  in  Greek  and  Latin, 
conversed  easily  and  agreeably,  and  wrote  impromptu 
verses  almost  as  well  as  he  who  was  called  the  Magnifi¬ 
cent,  but  he  was  haughty  and  insolent  in  his  bearing 
toward  those  who  had  made  a  study  of  public  affairs, 
although  he  was  himself  profoundly  ignorant  therein. 
He  was  devoted  to  all  forms  of  pleasure  and  passionately 
fond  of  women ;  and  he  gave  unremitting  attention  to 
those  bodily  exercises  which  were  calculated  to  exalt 
him  in  their  eyes,  especially  the  game  of  tennis,  at 
which  he  was  very  strong.  He  promised  himself  that  as 
soon  as  his  period  of  mourning  was  passed,  he  would  set, 
not  Florence  alone,  but  all  the  world  agog  with  the 
splendor  of  his  court  and  the  magnificence  and  fame  of 
his  fetes.  So  thought  Pietro  dei  Medici,  but  heaven 
willed  otherwise. 

The  Most  Serene  Republic  of  Venice,  of  which  Augus- 
tino  Barbarigo  was  doge,  had  attained  the  highest  degree 
of  power  and  splendor  at  the  time  of  which  we  are 
writing.  From  Cadiz  to  the  Palus  Meotides  not  a 
harbor  was  closed  to  her  thousand  ships ;  in  Italy  she 
possessed,  in  addition  to  the  banks  of  the  lagoons  (that 
is  to  say,  the  city),  the  former  Duchy  of  Venice,  the 
provinces  of  Bergamo,  Brescia,  Verona  Vicenza  and 
Padua ;  she  had  the  March  of  Trevisano,  which  included 
Feltre,  Belluno,  Cadorin,  the  Polesine  of  Rovigo,  and 
the  principality  of  Ravenna ;  she  had  Friuli,  less 
Aquileia ;  Istria,  less  Trieste  ;  on  the  eastern  shore  of 
the  Adriatic,  Zara,  Spalatro,  and  the  Albanian  coast ; 
the  islands  of  Zante  and  Corfu  in  the  Ionian  Sea, 
Lepanto  and  Patras  in  Greece,  Meoron,  Coron,  Nauplia 
and  Argos  in  the  Morea,  and  Candia  and  the  Kingdom 
of  Cyprus  in  the  Archipelago,  in  addition  to  several 


32 


THE  BORGIAS. 


1  « 

small  towns  and  settlements  on  the  coast.  Thus,  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Po,  to  the  eastern  extremity  of  the 
Mediterranean,  the  most  serene  republic  was  mistress  of 
the  whole  sea-coast,  and  Greece  and  Italy  seemed  to  be 
little  more  than  suburbs  of  Venice. 

In  the  territories  not  held  by  Naples,  Milan,  Florence 
or  Venice  divers  petty  tyrants  had  established  themselves, 
and  exercised  absolute  sovereignty  within  their  narrow 
limits.  Thus  the  Colonna  held  sway  at  Ostia  and 
Nettuno,  the  Montefeltri  at  Urbino,  the  Manfredi  at 
Faenza,  the  Bentivogli  at  Bologna,  the  Malatesta  at 
Rimini,  the  Vitelli  at  Cita  di  Castello,  the  Beglioni 
at  Perouse,  the  Orsini  at  Vicovaro,  and  the  princes 
of  Este  at  Ferrara. 

And  in  the  centre  of  this  vast  circle,  composed  of 
great  powers,  secondary  powers,  and  petty  despotisms, 
was  Rome ;  the  most  elevated,  but  the  weakest  of  all, 
without  influence,  without  territory,  without  means,  and 
without  an  army. 

It  was  for  the  new  pope  to  provide  her  with  all  these 
essentials  of  power ;  let  us  see  therefore  what  manner  of 
man  was  this  Alexander  VI.,  and  how  well  fitted  to 
begin  and  carry  out  such  an  undertaking. 

Rodrigo  Lenzuolo  was  born  at  Valencia  in  Spain  in 
1430  or  1431.  Through  his  mother  he  was  descended 
from  a  family  which  had  royal  blood  in  its  veins,  as 
some  authors  assert,  and  which  put  forward  claims  to 
the  crowns  of  Aragon  and  Valencia  before  casting  a 
covetous  eye  on  the  tiara.  From  early  childhood  he 
gave  promise  of  marvelous  quickness  of  wit,  and  as  he 
grew  to  man’s  estate  he  displayed  great  aptitude  for  the 
learned  sciences,  especially  jurisprudence;  the  result 
being  that  he  won  his  first  laurels  as  an  advocate,  a 
profession  in  which  his  readiness  in  the  discussion  of  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


33 


most  intricate  points  soon  brought  him  fame.  However, 
he  soon  wearied  of  it,  and  suddenly  abandoned  it  for  the 
profession  of  arms  which  has  father  had  followed  before 
him ;  but  after  a  few  exploits,  in  which  he  gave  proof 
of  abundant  self-possession  and  courage,  he  conceived  a 
distaste  for  that  as  well.  As  his  father  happened  to  die 
and  leave  him  a  considerable  fortune,  just  as  a  soldier’s 
life  began  to  pall  upon  him,  he  resolved  to  take  up  no 
other  profession,  but  to  devote  himself  henceforth  to  the 
gratification  of  his  whims.  About  this  time  he  became 
the  lover  of  a  widow  with  two  daughters ;  the  widow 
died,  and  Rodrigo  took  the  daughters  under  his  care, 
and  put  one  of  them  in  a  convent ;  as  the  other  was 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  creatures  imaginable  he  kept 
her  for  his  mistress.  She  was  the  celebrated  Rosa  Van- 
ozza,  by  whom  he  had  five  children :  Francesco,  Caesar, 
Lucrezia,  Guiffry,  and  a  fifth  whose  name  is  unknown. 

Rodrigo  had  withdrawn  from  public  affairs  and  was 
devoting  himself  unreservedly  to  his  mistress  and  his 
children,  when  he  learned  that  his  uncle,  who  had 
always  shown  as  much  affection  for  him  as  if  he  were  his 
own  son,  was  chosen  pope  under  the  name  of  Calixtus 
III.  He  was  so  deeply  in  love  at  that  time,  however, 
that  his  passion  imposed  silence  upon  his  ambition,  and 
he  was  almost  terrified  at  his  uncle’s  elevation,  which 
would  doubtless  compel  him  to  return  to  public  life. 
Consequently,  instead  of  hastening  to  Rome,  as  any 
other  would  have  done  in  his  place,  he  contented  him¬ 
self  with  writing  his  Holiness  a  letter,  wherein  he 
solicited  the  continuance  of  his  good  will,  and  wished 
him  a  long  and  prosperous  pontificate. 

This  self-restraint  on  the  part  of  one  of  his  relatives, 
contrasting  so  strongly  with  the  exhibitions  of  greed 
and  ambition  which  greeted  the  new  pontiff  at  every 


34 


i 


THE  BORGIAS. 


step,  made  a  deep  impression  upon  Calixtus ;  he  knew 
Rodrigo’s  worth,  and  at  a  moment  when  he  was  liter¬ 
ally  besieged  by  men  of  less  than  mediocre  talent, 
the  estimable  qualities  of  this  young  man  who  kept  so 
modestly  in  the  background,  assumed  vast  proportions 
in  his  eyes.  He  therefore  wrote  at  once  to  Rodrigo  that 
he  must  leave  Valencia  for  Rome  on  receipt  of  the  letter. 

This  command  dislodged  Rodrigo  from  the  comfort¬ 
able  retreat  he  had  made  for  himself,  and  in  which  he 
would  perhaps  have  passed  his  life  in  contented  retirement, 
had  not  fortune  taken  him  by  the  hand  and  led  him  forth. 

He  was  happy,  he  was  rich,  and  the  evil  passions 
which  were  natural  to  him,  were  at  least  slumbering,  if 
not  altogether  dead.  He  was  alarmed  for  himself  at 
the  thought  of  changing  the  quiet,  peaceful  life  he  was 
leading  for  the  life  of  ambition  and  excitement  which 
was  promised  him,  and  instead  of  obeying  his  uncle  at 
once,  he  delayed  the  necessary  preparations  for  his 
departure,  hoping  that  Calixtus  would  forget.  But  it  was 
not  to  be ;  two  months  after  the  pope’s  letter,  a  Roman 
ecclesiastic  arrived  at  Valencia,  bearing  Rodrigo’s  ap¬ 
pointment  to  a  living  worth  twenty  thousand  ducats  a 
year,  and  a  positive  order  to  the  appointee  to  take  pos¬ 
session  of  his  benefice  at  once. 

Delay  was  no  longer  possible,  and  Rodrigo  obeyed. 
He  was  reluctant,  however,  to  part  from  her  who  had 
been  the  source  of  all  his  happiness  for  eight  years.  So 
Rosa  Vanozza  left  Spain  at  the  same  time,  and  while  he 
proceeded  to  Rome,  she  betook  herself  to  Venice,  accom¬ 
panied  by  two  confidential  servants,  and  under  the  charge 
of  a  Spanish  gentlemen,  named  Manuel  Melchiori. 

Fortune  fulfilled  all  the  promises  she  had  made  to 
Rodrigo ;  the  pope  received  him  as  a  son,  and  created 
him  Archbishop  of  Valencia,  Cardinal- deacon,  and  Vice- 


THE  BORGIAS. 


35 


chancellor,  in  rapid  succession.  In  addition  to  all  this 
Calixtus  bestowed  upon  him  a  revenue  of  forty  thousand 
ducats ;  so  that  when  he  was  barely  thirty-five  years  old 
Rodrigo  was  as  wealthy  and  powerful  as  many  a  prince. 

He  was  somewhat  reluctant  to  accept  the  cardinalate, 
which  required  his  constant  presence  at  Rome,  and  would 
have  preferred  to  be  vicar-general  of  the  church,  a  posi¬ 
tion  which  would  have  given  him  more  opportunity  to  see 
his  mistress  and  his  family  ;  but  his  uncle  reminded  him 
of  the  possibility  that  he  might  some  day  succeed  him, 
and  from  that  moment  the  thought  of  becoming  the 
supreme  ruler  of  kings  and  peoples  took  such  hold  of 
Rodrigo  that  it  filled  his  mind  to  the  exclusion  of  every¬ 
thing  else. 

Thenceforth  the  young  cardinal  began  to  manifest 
that  monumental  hypocrisy  which  helped  to  make  him 
the  most  perfect  incarnation  of  evil  that  ever  existed  on 
earth.  He  was  no  longer  the  same  man ;  with  words 
of  humility  and  repentance  ever  upon  his  lips,  his  head 
bent  as  if  beneath  the  weight  of  his  past  transgressions, 
treating  as  dross  the  wealth  he  had  acquired,  which 
ought,  he  said,  to  be  restored  to  the  poor,  as  it  was  right¬ 
fully  theirs,  he  passed  his  life  in  churches  and  monaster¬ 
ies  and  hospitals,  and  established  even  in  the  eyes  of  his 
enemies,  so  says  his  biographer,  the  reputation  of  a 
Solomon  for  wisdom,  a  Job  for  patience,  and  a  Moses 
for  the  dissemination  of  God’s  word.  Rosa  Vanozza 
alone  was  able  to  estimate  the  pious  cardinal’s  conver¬ 
sion  at  its  real  worth. 

It  proved  to  be  exceedingly  well  for  him  that  he  had 
acquired  this  reputation  for  sanctity,  for  his  patron  died 
after  a  reign  of  three  years,  three  months  and  nineteen 
days,  and  thenceforth  he  had  only  his  own  merit  to 
sustain  him  against  the  numerous  enemies  his  rapid  rise 


36 


THE  BORGIAS. 


in  fortune  had  made  for  him.  During  the  whole  of  the 
pontificate  of  Pius  II.  he  held  aloof  from  public  affairs, 
and  did  not  make  his  appearance  again  until  the  acces¬ 
sion  of  Sextus  IV.  who  gave  him  the  Abbey  of  Subiaco, 
and  sent  him  as  legate  to  the  Kings  of  Aragon  and 
Portugal.  On  his  return,  which  took  place  under 
Innocent  VIII.  he  decided  to  bring  his  family  to  Rome, 
and  they  came  thither  under  the  escort  of  Don  Melchiori, 
who  thenceforth  passed  for  Vanozza’s  husband,  and  took 
the  name  of  Count  Ferdinand  of  Castile. 

Cardinal  Rodrigo  welcomed  the  noble  Spaniard  as  a 
compatriot  and  friend  ;  and  he,  with  the  view  of  leading 
a  very  secluded  life,  hired  a  house  on  Via  della  Longara, 
near  the  Church  of  Regina  Coeli,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber.  After  passing  the  day  in  prayer  and  pious 
works,  Rodrigo  repaired  thither  every  evening  and  laid 
aside  his  mask.  It  was  commonly  reported,  although  no 
one  could  prove  it,  that  infamous  things  took  place  in 
that  house  ;  people  talked  of  incestuous  relations  between 
the  father  and  daughter,  and  between  the  brothers  and 
their  sister,  and  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  these  reports, 
Rodrigo  sent  Caesar  to  Pisa  to  study,  and  married 
Lucrezia  to  a  young  Aragonese  nobleman ;  thus  only 
Vanozza  and  two  of  her  sons  remained  at  the  house. 
Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  Innocent 
VIII.  died  and  Rodrigo  Borgia  was  chosen  to  succeed 
him. 

We  have  seen  by  what  means  the  choice  was  brought 
about.  The  five  cardinals  who  had  no  part  in  the 
simoniacal  transaction,  namely  the  Cardinals  of  Naples, 
Sienna,  Portugal,  Sancta-Maria-in-Porticu  and  Saint 
Peter-in-Vinculis,  protested  loudly  against  the  election, 
which  they  declared  to  have  been  a  shameless  piece  of 
jobbery ;  but  Rodrigo  had  obtained  a  majority  of  votes, 


THE  BORGIAS. 


37 


it  mattered  little  by  what  means,  and  despite  their 
protests  Rodrigo  was  none  the  less  the  two  hundred 
and  sixteenth  successor  of  St.  Peter. 

Although  he  had  reached  the  goal  of  his  ambition, 
Alexander  VI.  did  not  dare  to  lay  aside  at  once  the 
mask  which  Cardinal  Borgia  had  worn  so  long ;  but  he 
could  not  altogether  conceal  the  joy  his  elevation  caused 
him,  and  when  he  learned  that  the  ballot  had  at  last 
decided  in  his  favor,  he  raised  his  arms,  and  cried  in 
tones  of  heartfelt  satisfaction  : 

“  Am  I  really  pope  ?  Am  I  really  Christ’s  vicar  on 
earth  ?  Am  I  really  the  keystone  of  the  arch  of  the 
Christian  world  ?  ” 

“Yes,  Holy  Father,”  replied  Cardinal Ascanio  Sforza 
— the  same  who  sold  him  the  nine  votes  at  his  disposal 
in  the  conclave,  for  four  mules  laden  with  money  and 
plate — “  and  we  hope  by  your  election  to  promote  the 
glory  of  God,  the  repose  of  the  Church,  and  the  happi¬ 
ness  of  Christendom,  since  you  were  designated  by  the 
Omnipotent  Himself  as  being  more  worthy  than  your 
brethren.” 

Brief  as  this  reply  was  it  afforded  the  new  pope  an 
opportunity  to  recover  his  self-possession,  and  he  said 
humbly,  folding  his  hands  upon  his  breast : 

“We  trust  that  God  will  accord  us  His  mighty  aid, 
notwithstanding  our  weakness,  and  that  He  will  do  for 
us  what  He  did  for  the  Apostle,  when  He  placed  the 
keys  of  heaven  in  his  hands,  and  entrusted  to  him  the 
government  of  the  Church,  a  burden  which  would  be 
too  heavy  for  a  mortal  without  divine  assistance.  But 
God  promised  him  that  His  Holy  Spirit  should  be  his 
guide ;  He  will  do  as  much  for  us  I  hope.  And  we 
doubt  not  that  you  will,  one  and  all,  exhibit  the  divine 
spirit  of  obedience  which  is  due  to  the  head  of  the 


38 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Church,  in  imitation  of  that  which  Christ’s  flock  were 
compelled  to  show  to  the  prince  of  the  apostles.” 

When  he  had  finished,  Alexander  arrayed  himself  in 
pontifical  garb  and  ordered  the  slips  of  paper  upon 
which  his  name  was  written  in  Latin  to  be  thrown  from 
the  windows  of  the  Vatican,  as  if  to  bear  to  the  four 
corners  of  the  earth  the  news  of  the  great  event  which 
was  to  change  the  face  of  Italy. 

The  same  day  couriers  were  despatched  to  all  the 
European  courts. 

Caesar  Borgia  learned  of  his  father’s  election  at  the 
University  of  Pisa,  where  he  was  a  student.  In  his 
ambitious  dreams  he  had  often  dwelt  upon  the  possibility 
of  such  an  occurrence,  and  his  joy  was  almost  beyond 
bounds.  He  was  at  this  time  a  young  man  of  some 
twenty-two  years,  skilled  in  all  bodily  exercises,  espe¬ 
cially  in  feats  of  arms ;  he  could  ride  the  most  unman¬ 
ageable  horses  without  a  saddle,  and  cut  off  the  head  of 
a  bull  with  a  single  blow  of  his  sword.  He  was  arrogant, 
jealous  and  deceitful  and,  in  the  words  of  Tommasi, 
great  among  the  impious  as  his  brother  Francesco  was 
good  among  the  great.  Of  his  features,  different  authors 
who  were  his  contemporaries  left  descriptions  which  vary 
widely.  Some  painted  him  as  a  monster  of  ugliness, 
while  others,  on  the  contrary,  cannot  praise  his  beauty 
too  highly.  The  explanation  of  this  seeming  contradic¬ 
tion  lies  in  the  fact  that  at  certain  times  in  the  year, 
especially  in  spring,  his  face  was  covered  with  pustules, 
which  made  him  a  horribly  disgusting  object  while  they 
lasted ;  but  at  other  times  he  was  the  black-haired  youth 
with  pale  face  and  fawn-colored  beard  whom  Raphael 
has  shown  us  in  his  fine  portrait  of  him.  Historians, 
chroniclers  and  painters,  however,  are  all  agreed  as  to 
his  piercing,  masterful  glance,  in  which  there  shone  an 


THE  BORGIAS. 


39 


ever-burning  flame,  imparting  to  it  something  infernal 
and  uncanny.  Such  was  the  man  whose  wildest  hopes 
fate  had  brought  to  fruition,  and  who  took  for  his 
device : 

“  Aut  Ccesar  aut  nihil  .” 

Csesar  traveled  post  to  Rome  with  some  of  his  close 
friends ;  the  marvelous  effect  of  the  change  in  his 
fortune  was  apparent  in  the  respectful  humility  with 
which  he  was  everywhere  greeted  as  soon  as  he  reached 
the  gates  of  the  city.  At  the  Vatican  the  respectful 
demeanor  of  those  whom  he  encountered  was  even  more 
marked ;  the  great  men  bowed  to  the  ground  before  him 
as  one  greater  than  themselves,  and  the  result  of  all  this 
homage  was  to  arouse  his  impatience  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  hurried  at  once  to  the  pope’s  presence  to  kiss 
his  feet,  without  taking  time  to  visit  his  mother  or  any 
other  member  of  his  family.  His  father  had  been 
notified  of  his  arrival,  and  was  awaiting  him  in  the 
centre  of  a  numerous  and  brilliant  circle  of  cardinals, 
with  his  three  brothers  standing  behind  him. 

His  Holiness  greeted  him  pleasantly,  but  did  not 
indulge  in  any  demonstrations  of  paternal  affection ;  he 
simply  stooped  and  kissed  him  on  the  forehead  and 
asked  him  some  questions  concerning  his  health  and  his 
journey.  Csesar  replied  that  he  was  very  well  and 
entirely  at  the  service  of  his  Holiness ;  and  that,  so  far 
as  his  journey  was  concerned,  any  little  inconvenience  or 
fatigue  he  had  suffered  was  much  more  than  atoned  for  by 
his  extreme  gratification  at  the  privilege  of  bending  the 
knee  in  reverential  worship  before  an  incumbent  of  the 
chair  of  St.  Peter  who  was  in  every  way  so  worthy  to 
fill  it.  With  these  words,  leaving  Csesar  on  his  knees 
and  resuming  his  own  seat,  from  which  he  had  risen  in 
order  to  embrace  him,  the  Pope  composed  his  features 


40 


THE  BORGIAS. 


into  an  expression  of  great  seriousness,  and  spoke  as 
follows,  in  a  sufficiently  loud  tone  to  be  heard  by  all, 
and  so  slowly  that  everyone  could  remember  and  weigh 
well  every  word : 

“We  are  very  sure,  Csesar,  that  you  rejoice  heartily 
to  behold  us  raised  to  this  great  eminence,  so  far  above 
our  deserts,  to  which  it  has  pleased  God,  in  His  wisdom, 
to  call  us.  It  is  due  to  us  that  you  should  so  rejoice,  in 
the  first  place  because  of  our  past  and  present  affection 
for  you,  and  secondly,  because  you  may  expect  to  receive 
from  our  pontifical  hand  such  benefactions  as  your  good 
works  show  you  to  be  worthy  of.  But  if  your  joy — and 
we  say  this  to  you  as  we  have  said  it  to  your  brother — 
if  your  joy  is  founded  upon  other  considerations,  you 
have  made  a  great  mistake,  Csesar,  and  will  find  yourself 
wofully  deceived.  We  aspired  with  undue  ardor,  it 
may  be,  to  the  papal  throne,  and  we  humbly  confess  it 
in  this  presence ;  to  attain  our  end  we  adopted  every 
means  which  human  ingenuity  could  suggest,  but  we 
acted  as  we  did  taking  a  solemn  oath  to  our  own  conscience 
that  when  we  had  once  reached  the  goal,  we  would 
follow  no  other  path  than  that  which  leads  to  the  truest 
service  of  God  and  the  greatest  glory  of  the  Holy  See, 
to  the  end  that  the  glorious  memory  of  our  future  deeds 
may  efface  the  shameful  memory  of  what  we  have  done 
in  the  past.  In  this  way,  I  trust,  we  shall  leave  a  path 
marked  out  for  our  successors  on  which  they  will  find 
the  footsteps  of  a  true  pope,  if  not  the  traces  of  a  saint. 

“  God,  who  gave  His  sanction  to  the  means  we 
adopted,  now  looks  to  us  for  the  fitting  result,  and  we 
are  disposed  to  liquidate  in  full  the  great  debt  we  have 
contracted  to  Him;  therefore  we  do  not  propose  to 
incite  His  justice  to  stern  reprisals  by  fraudulent  prac¬ 
tices.  There  is  but  one  thing  which  could  operate  as 


THE  BORGIAS. 


41 


a  hindrance  to  our  good  intentions ;  that  would  be  too 
great  an  interest  in  your  fortunes.  Thus  we  have  armed 
ourselves  in  advance  against  the  influence  of  the  ties  of 
blood,  and  we  have  prayed  God  to  guide  our  feet  that 
we  stumble  not  in  our  dealings  with  you ;  for  a  pope 
cannot  tread  the  path  of  nepotism  without  falling,  and 
he  cannot  fall  without  striking  a  heavy  blow  at  the 
honor  of  the  Holy  See.  We  shall  bemoan  to  the  end 
of  our  days  the  errors  to  which  we  owe  our  knowledge 
of  this  truth,  and  God  grant  that  our  uncle,  Calix- 
tus,  of  blessed  memory,  be  not  carrying  to-day  in 
purgatory  the  burden  of  sins  of  which  we  were  more 
guilty  than  he  !  Alas  !  he  was  rich  with  every  virtue, 
his  intentions  were  of  the  best,  but  he  loved  his  own 
family  too  well,  and  of  all  his  family,  he  loved  ourself 
the  best.  He  allowed  this  love  for  all  his  kindred  to 
lead  him  blindly,  and  he  concentrated  upon  a  few  heads 
only,  and  those  the  least  worthy  perhaps,  the  benefac¬ 
tions  which  should  have  gone  to  satisfy  the  just  claims 
of  a  great  number.  In  brief,  he  bestowed  upon  our 
family  treasures  which  it  was  wrong  for  him  to  amass  at 
the  expense  of  the  poor,  or  which  he  should,  at  least, 
have  devoted  to  a  better  use.  He  despoiled  the  domains 
of  the  Church,  which  were  restricted  enough  before,  of 
the  Duchy  of  Spoleto  and  other  rich  possessions  in 
order  to  make  them  feudatory  to  us,  and  he  placed  upon 
our  weak  shoulders  the  vice-chancellorship,  the  vice¬ 
prefecture  of  Rome,  the  vicar-generalship  of  the  Church, 
and  numberless  other  of  the  more  important  functions, 
which,  instead  of  being  thus  monopolized  by  us,  should 
have  been  conferred  upon  those  whose  merits  qualified 
them  therefor.  There  were  those,  too,  who  were  raised 
to  eminent  station  on  our  recommendation,  who  had  no 
other  claim  thereto  than  the  too  partial  patronage 


42 


THE  BORGIAS. 


accorded  them  by  us,  while  others  were  excluded  for  no 
other  reason  than  the  jealousy  which  their  noteworthy 
qualifications  inspired  in  our  mind. 

“  In  order  to  wrest  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  from 
Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  he  kindled  a  terrible  war,  the  for¬ 
tunate  issue  of  which  had  no  other  result  than  to  add 
to  our  fortune,  while  a  disastrous  issue  could  not  have 
failed  to  bring  discredit  and  shame  upon  the  Holy  See. 
In  short,  by  allowing  himself  to  be  swayed  at  will  by 
those  who  sacrificed  the  public  good  to  their  private 
interests,  he  caused  great  harm,  not  only  to  the  papal 
throne,  not  only  to  his  own  renown,  but,  most  lamentable 
of  all,  to  his  conscience.  And  yet,  O  all-wise  judgments 
of  God !  although  he  devoted  himself  so  earnestly  and 
untiringly  to  establishing  our  fortune  upon  a  firm  basis, 
he  had  no  sooner  left  vacant  the  lofty  position  which 
we  occupy  to-day  than  we  were  cast  down  from  the 
height  to  which  we  had  ascended  and  given  over  to  the 
fury  of  the  people  and  the  vindictive  hatred  of  those 
Roman  nobles  who  looked  upon  themselves  as  insulted 
by  our  amiable  partiality  for  their  enemies.  Thus  it 
came  about,  Caesar,  not  only  that  we  were  thrown  down, 
as  I  said  but  now,  from  the  summit  of  grandeur  which 
we  had  attained,  and  deprived  of  the  worldly  goods  and 
the  dignities  which  our  uncle  had  heaped  at  our  feet,  but 
that  we  and  our  friends,  in  order  to  save  our  lives,  were 
fain  to  condemn  ourselves  to  voluntary  exile,  which 
alone  made  it  possible  for  us  to  avoid  the  tempest  evoked 
by  the  disclosure  of  our  too  great  fortune.  This  was  to 
our  mind  conclusive  proof  that,  inasmuch  as  God  has 
no  difficulty  in  confounding  the  plans  of  His  creatures 
when  those  plans  are  unjust,  it  is  a  great  mistake  for  a 
pontiff  to  devote  himself  more  earnestly  to  the  advance¬ 
ment  of  a  family  which  can  endure  but  a  few  short 


THE  BORGIAS. 


43 


years  at  most,  than  to  the  true  glory  of  the  Church, 
which  is  eternal.  And,  furthermore,  it  proved  that  those 
politicians  are  egregious  fools,  who,  when  they  are 
entrusted  with  a  government  which  was  not  inherited 
by  them  and  does  not  pass  to  their  heirs,  erect  the  edifice 
of  their  greatness  upon  any  other  foundations  than  upon 
the  consistent  display  of  lofty  virtue  for  the  benefit  of 
all  alike,  and  who  think  to  assure  the  long  duration  of 
their  power  by  any  other  means  than  those  which  hold 
in  check  the  unexpected  whirlwind,  which,  springing  up 
during  a  period  of  perfect  calm,  may  blow  up  a  hurri¬ 
cane — may,  that  is  to  say,  conjure  up  a  host  of  enemies, 
any  one  of  whom,  if  in  deadly  earnest,  will  do  them 
more  injury  than  the  deceptive  demonstrations  of  assist¬ 
ance  from  a  hundred  so-called  friends  can  undo. 

“  If  you  and  your  brothers  choose  to  follow  the  praise¬ 
worthy  course  which  we  have  laid  before  you,  you  will 
form  no  wish  which  will  not  be  gratified  on  the  instant ; 
but  if  you  adopt  the  opposite  course,  if  you  have  cher¬ 
ished  hopes  that  our  affection  will  make  us  indulgent 
to  your  dissolute  life,  you  will  very  soon  have  abundant 
proof  that  we  hold  our  high  office  for  the  behoof  of  the 
Church,  not  of  our  family,  and  that,  as  the  vicar  of  Christ 
on  earth,  we  propose  to  do  what  we  shall  deem  to  be 
for  the  good  of  Christendom,  and  not  what  you  may 
deem  to  be  for  your  interest ;  and  with  this  understand¬ 
ing,  Csesar,  receive  our  pontifical  blessing.” 

With  these  words,  Alexander  VI.  rose,  laid  his  hands 
upon  the  head  of  his  son,  who  was  still  kneeling,  and 
withdrew  to  his  apartments,  without  requesting  him  to 
follow. 

The  young  man  was  struck  dumb  by  this  long 
harangue,  which  corresponded  so  ill  with  his  expectations, 
and  which  destroyed  his  dearest  hopes  at  a  blow.  He 


44 


i 


THE  BORGIAS. 


rose  to  his  feet,  dizzily,  and  staggering  like  a  drunken 
man,  and  hurried  away  from  the  Vatican  to  seek  his 
mother,  of  whom  he  had  not  thought  at  first,  but  to 
whom  he  turned  in  his  perplexity. 

The  Vanozza  had  all  the  vices  and  all  the  virtues  of 
a  Spanish  courtesan,  superstitiously  devoted  to  the  wor¬ 
ship  of  the  Madonna,  fond  of  her  children  to  the  point 
of  weakness,  and  slavishly  submissive  to  the  will  of 
Rodrigo,  in  whatever  direction  it  was  manifested ;  but 
she  trusted  with  all  her  soul  in  the  permanence  of  a 
power  which  had  not  failed  her  in  thirty  years,  and,  like 
the  serpent,  she  was  certain  of  suffocating  with  her  folds, 
when  she  could  not  fascinate  with  her  glance.  She  knew 
the  profound  hypocrisy  of  her  old  lover,  and  consequently 
had  no  trouble  in  allaying  Caesar’s  fears. 

Lucrezia  was  with  Vanozza  when  Caesar  arrived ; 
under  the  very  eyes  of  their  mother  the  young  people 
exchanged  a  kiss  of  more  than  fraternal  warmth,  and 
before  they  separated  they  made  an  appointment  for  the 
same  evening.  Lucrezia  was  separated  from  her  hus¬ 
band,  to  whom  Rodrigo  paid  a  pension,  and  lived  in 
perfect  freedom  at  her  palace  on  Via-del-Pellegrino. 

At  the  appointed  hour  Caesar  made  his  appearance  at 
her  abode,  but  he  found  his  brother  Francesco  there  be¬ 
fore  him.  The  two  young  men  had  never  been  fond  of 
each  other,  but  as  their  hearts  were  of  entirely  different 
mould  Francesco’s  hatred  was  but  the  instinctive  dread 
of  the  stag  for  the  hunter ;  while  Caesar’s  was  the  crav¬ 
ing  for  vengeance  and  thirst  for  blood  which  never  die 
in  the  heart  of  the  tiger.  The  brothers  embraced  never¬ 
theless,  the  one  in  a  spirit  of  good-will,  the  other  hypo¬ 
critically  ;  but  at  the  moment  of  meeting,  the  thought 
of  their  twofold  rivalry  in  the  good  graces  of  their 
father  and  their  sister  brought  a  burning  blush  to 


THE  BORGIAS. 


45 


Francesco’s  cheeks,  and  a  deathly  pallor  to  those  of  Cae¬ 
sar.  They  both  sat  down,  each  determined  not  to  take  his 
leave  before  the  other,  when  there  was  a  knock  at  the 
door,  and  a  rival  was  announced  before  whom  both  had 
no  choice  but  to  withdraw  ;  it  was  their  father. 

Vanozza  did  well  to  reassure  Caesar.  To  say  truth, 
Alexander  VI.,  while  declaiming  against  the  abuse  of 
nepotism,  had  already  formed  a  shrewd  idea  of  the  use 
to  which  he  might  put  his  sons  and  his  daughter  politi¬ 
cally  ;  for  he  knew  that  he  could  safely  rely  upon  Caesar 
and  Lucrezia  for  anything  he  might  ask,  if  not  upon 
Francesco  and  Guiffry. 

Indeed  the  sister  was  the  fitting  complement  of  the 
brother,  with  a  licentious  imagination,  a  scoffer  at  religion 
by  nature,  and  ambitious  from  self-interest,  Lucrezia  had  a 
greedy  craving  for  debauchery,  flattery,  titles,  gold,  jew¬ 
elry,  soft  stuffs,  and  superb  palaces.  A  true  Spaniard  for 
all  her  fair  hair,  a  true  courtesan  beneath  her  demure  ex¬ 
terior,  she  had  the  head  of  a  Madonna  of  Raphael,  and 
the  heart  of  Messalina ;  thus  was  she  dear  to  Rodrigo, 
both  as  daughter  and  as  mistress,  for  he  saw  reflected  in 
her,  as  in  a  magic  mirror,  all  his  own  passions  and  all 
his  own  vices.  Lucrezia  and  Caesar  were  to  him  as  the 
apple  of  his  eye,  and  with  him  they  formed  the  diaboli¬ 
cal  trinity  which  sat  for  eleven  years  upon  the  papal 
throne,  an  impious  parody  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 

However,  at  first  there  was  nothing  to  give  the  lie  to 
Alexander’s  enunciation  of  the  principles  by  which  he 
proposed  to  govern  his  actions,  in  his  harangue  to  Caesar ; 
the  first  year  of  his  pontificate  surpassed  the  hopes  of 
which  the  Romans  formed  at  the  time  of  his  election. 
He  provided  for  stocking  the  public  granaries  with  such 
liberality  that  from  time  immemorial  there  had  not  been 
such  marvelous  abundance,  and  in  order  that  the  lowest 


46 


THE  BORGIAS. 


classes  might  share  in  the  general  good  fortune,  he  fur¬ 
nished  funds  from  his  private  store  to  enable  the  very 
paupers  to  partake  of  this  feast  from  which  they  had  so 
long  been  excluded. 

The  public  security  was  provided  for  in  the  early  days 
of  his  reign,  by  a  vigorous  and  vigilant  police  force,  and 
by  a  court  composed  of  four  learned  doctors  of  irre¬ 
proachable  reputation,  whose  duty  it  was  to  take  cogniz¬ 
ance  of  all  the  crimes  committed  at  night,  which  were 
so  common  under  the  preceding  incumbent  that  their 
very  number  made  apprehension  impossible.  Their 
earliest  judgments  offered  a  salutary  warning  by  their 
vigorous  severity,  which  neither  the  rank  nor  wealth  of 
the  culprits  availed  to  lighten.  This  contrasted  so 
strongly  with  the  corruption  of  the  last  reign  (when  the 
vice-chamberlain  was  accustomed  to  retort  in  public  to 
those  who  reproached  him  for  the  venality  of  the  officers 
of  the  law  : — “  God  does  not  desire  the  death  of  a  sin¬ 
ner,  but  that  he  should  live  and  pay  ”), — that  the  capital 
of  the  Christian  world  believed  for  a  moment  that  the 
halcyon  days  of  the  early  popes  had  returned. 

Thus,  after  a  year  of  power,  Alexander  VI.  had  won 
back  the  spiritual  credit  which  his  predecessors  had  lost. 
It  remained  for  him  to  establish  his  political  credit  upon 
a  firm  foundation,  in  order  to  accomplish  the  first  part 
of  his  stupendous  plan.  To  attain  that  end,  he  had  the 
choice  of  two  alternatives — alliance  or  conquest.  He 
thought  best  to  begin  by  seeking  alliances.  The  Aragon¬ 
ese  nobleman  who  married  Lucrezia  when  she  was  only 
the  daughter  of  Cardinal  Borgia  was  not  a  man  of  suffi¬ 
cient  eminence  either  by  birth,  wealth  or  intellect,  to  ex¬ 
ert  any  influence  in  promoting  the  schemes  of  Pope 
Alexander  VI.;  so  the  separation  became  a  divorce,  and 
Lucrezia  Borgia  was  free  to  marry  again. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


47 


Alexander  VI.  undertook  two  negotiations  at  once.  He 
needed  an  ally  who  could  keep  watch  in  his  interest  upon 
the  actions  of  the  States  which  surrounded  him. 

Giovanni  Sforza,  grandson  of  Alexander  Sforza,  who 
was  the  brother  of  Francesco  I.,  called  the  Great,  Duke 
of  Milan,  was  Lord  of  Pesaro.  The  topographical  situa¬ 
tion  of  that  place  on  the  shore  of  the  Adriatic,  between 
Florence  and  Venice  was  wonderfully  well  adapted  for 
his  purposes,  so  he  turned  his  eyes  thither  in  the  first 
place,  and  as  Sforza’s  interests  were  one  with  his,  he 
soon  became  Lucrezia’s  second  husband. 

At  the  same  time  overtures  had  been  made  to  Al- 
phonso  of  Aragon,  heir  presumptive  to  the  crown  of 
Naples,  looking  to  an  alliance  between  his  natural 
daughter,  Donna  Sancia,  and  Guiffry,  the  pope’s  third 
son;  but  as  the  aged  Ferdinand  desired  to  gain  the 
utmost  possible  advantage  from  the  alliance,  he  dragged 
out  the  negotiations  to  an  interminable  length,  objecting 
that  the  children  were  not  of  marriageable  age,  and  that 
there  was  consequently  no  occasion  for  haste  in  the  mat¬ 
ter  of  their  betrothal,  however  much  he  might  desire  the 
honor  of  such  a  connection.  The  matter  remained  at 
that  point  to  the  great  dissatisfaction  of  Alexander  VI., 
who  was  not  deceived  as  to  the  real  meaning  of  this 
postponement,  but  construed  it  as  a  refusal,  which  it 
really  was.  He  and  Ferdinand  thus  continued  to  oc¬ 
cupy  their  former  positions,  as  political  gamesters  of 
equal  skill,  waiting  until  the  cards  should  take  a  favor¬ 
able  turn  for  one  or  the  other.  Fortune  was  on  Alex¬ 
ander’s  side. 

Italy,  although  calm  to  all  outward  appearance,  felt 
instinctively  that  the  calmness  was  nothing  more  than 
that  which  ordinarily  precedes  a  storm.  She  was  too 
rich  and  too  happy  not  to  be  an  object  of  envy  to  all 


48  THE  BOEGIAS. 

the  other  nations.  The  negligence  and  jealousy  of  the 
Florentine  Republic  had  not  yet  transformed  the  plains 
of  Pisa  into  a  swamp,  the  wars  of  the  Colonna  and  Or- 
sini  had  not  changed  the  fertile  Roman  Campagna  into 
an  untilled  desert ;  the  Marquis  of  Marignano  had  not 
razed  to  the  ground  a  hundred  and  twenty  villages  in 
the  Republic  of  Sienna  alone ;  the  maremma  was  injuri¬ 
ous  to  health,  but  had  not  become  deadly ;  and  Flavio 
Blondo,  writing  in  1450  of  Ostia,  which  has  no  more 
than  thirty  inhabitants  to-day,  said  of  that  city  that  it 
was  somewhat  less  flourishing  than  in  the  time  of  the 
Romans,  when  it  could  boast  of  fifty  thousand. 

The  Italian  peasants  were,  perhaps,  the  happiest  part 
of  the  population.  Instead  of  being  scattered  about 
over  the  country,  they  lived  in  villages,  enclosed  by 
walls,  which  helped  to  protect  their  harvests,  their  cattle 
and  their  implements  ;  such  of  their  houses  as  are  stand¬ 
ing  to-day,  prove  that  they  lived  more  comfortably,  and 
that  their  dwellings  were  more  artistic  and  in  better 
taste  than  those  of  the  bourgeoisie  in  our  cities  at  the 
present  time.  Then,  too,  this  union  of  interests,  and 
concentration  of  individuals  in  fortified  villages  gradu¬ 
ally  bestowed  upon  them  an  importance  which  the 
French  peasants  and  German  serfs  did  not  enjoy.  They 
bore  arms,  had  a  common  treasury,  elected  their  magis¬ 
trates,  and  when  they  fought,  it  was  to  defend  their 
native  land. 

Commerce,  too,  was  in  a  no  less  flourishing  condition 
than  agriculture.  Italy,  in  those  days,  was  covered  with 
factories  for  working  silk,  wool,  hemp,  furs,  alum,  sul¬ 
phur  and  bitumen  ;  such  of  these  materials  as  were  not 
indigenous  to  Italy  were  brought  to  her  seaports  from 
the  Black  Sea,  Egypt,  Spain  and  France,  and  frequently 
were  shipped  back  to  the  place  whence  they  came,  after 


J 


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TS. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


49 


their  value  had  been  doubled  by  the  labor  and  skill  of 
the  practiced  craftsman.  The  rich  man  brought  his 
goods,  and  the  poor  man  his  labor ;  the  one  was  sure 
that  he  would  not  lack  hands  for  the  work,  and  the  other 
that  he  would  not  lack  work  for  his  hands. 

Nor  had  art  fallen  behind  her  sisters.  Dante,  Giotto, 
Brunelleschi  and  Donatello  were  dead,  but  Ariosto, 
Raphael,  Bramante  and  Michel  Angelo  were  rising 
above  the  horizon ;  Rome,  Florence  and  Naples  had 
inherited  the  master-pieces  of  antiquity,  and  the  manu¬ 
scripts  of  JEschylus,  Sophocles  and  Euripides  had  taken 
their  places  beside  the  marbles  of  Xantippus,  Phidias 
and  Praxiteles,  by  virtue  of  the  conquest  of  Mahomet  II. 

The  principal  sovereigns  of  Italy,  as  they  let  their  eyes 
wander  over  these  abundant  harvests,  these  wealthy  vil¬ 
lages,  these  flourishing  factories,  and  these  marvelous 
works  of  art,  and  then  fixed  them  upon  the  savage,  im¬ 
poverished,  warlike  peoples  by  whom  they  were  sur¬ 
rounded,  realized  that  they  were  destined  to  become 
some  day  to  the  other  nations  what  America  was  to 
Spain — that  is  to  say,  a  rich  gold-mine  to  be  worked  for 
all  it  could  be  made  to  yield.  Consequently,  as  early  as 
1480,  Naples,  Milan,  Florence  and  Ferrara  formed  an 
offensive  and  defensive  league,  ready  to  withstand  the 
attacks  of  foes  within  as  well  as  without — on  the  penin¬ 
sula  itself,  as  well  as  beyond  the  Alps.  Ludovico  Sforza, 
who  was  most  deeply  interested  in  maintaining  this 
league,  because  he  was  nearest  to  France,  whence  the 
attack  seemed  most  likely  to  come,  saw  in  the  election 
of  a  new  pope  an  additional  means,  not  only  of  solidify¬ 
ing  the  league,  but  of  exhibiting  it  to  Europe  in  all  its 
might. 

Upon  every  new  election,  it  was  customary  for  all  the 
Christian  nations  to  send  a  special  embassy  to  Rome,  to 

Vol.  II.— 4. 


50 


i 


THE  BORGIAS. 


renew  their  respective  oaths  of  allegiance.  It  occurred 
to  Ludovico  Sforza  to  arrange  that  the  ambassadors  of 
the  four  allied  powers  should  enter  Rome  on  the  same 
day,  and  that  a  single  one  of  them,  the  representative 
of  the  King  of  Naples,  for  instance,  should  be  delegated 
to  take  the  oath  in  the  name  of  all  four. 

Unfortunately,  this  plan  consorted  ill  with  the  mag¬ 
nificent  plans  of  Pietro  dei  Medici.  That  vain-glorious 
young  man,  who  was  the  chosen  ambassador  of  the  Flor¬ 
entine  Republic,  saw  in  the  mission  his  countrymen  had 
entrusted  to  him  an  opportunity  to  gratify  his  love  of 
display,  and  to  exhibit  his  vast  wealth.  From  the  day 
of  his  appointment  his  palace  overflowed  with  tailors, 
jewelers,  and  purveyors  of  fine  stuffs ;  and  the  result 
was  a  superb  wardrobe,  every  garment  of  which  was 
adorned  with  precious  stones  from  the  family  treasure- 
chest.  All  his  jewels,  probably  the  finest  in  Italy,  were 
sewn  upon  the  coats  of  his  pages,  and  one  of  them,  his 
favorite  attendant,  was  to  wear  a  pearl  necklace,  worth 
the  enormous  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  ducats — 
nearly  a  million  of  our  present  money !  The  Bishop  of 
Arezzo,  Gentili,  once  the  preceptor  of  Lorenzo  dei  Med¬ 
ici,  was  Pietro’s  colleague  in  the  embassy,  and  upon  him 
devolved  the  duty  of  acting  as  spokesman ;  he  had  pre¬ 
pared  an  elaborate  harangue,  and  relied  as  confidently 
upon  his  eloquence  to  charm  the  ears  of  his  hearers,  as 
Pietro  upon  his  superb  display  to  dazzle  their  eyes.  But 
Gentili’s  eloquence  would  go  for  naught,  if  the  ambassa¬ 
dor  of  the  King  of  Naples  were  to  be  the  spokesman, 
and  Pietro’s  pompous  magnificence  would  be  altogether 
thrown  away  if  he  entered  Rome  in  a  crowd  with  the 
other  ambassadors.  These  two  weighty  considerations, 
which  were  endangered  by  the  suggestion  of  the  Duke 
of  Milan,  changed  the  whole  face  of  Italy. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


51 


Ludovico  Sforza  had  already  procured  Ferdinand’s 
consent  to  his  plan,  when  the  old  king,  at  the  solicita¬ 
tion  of  the  Medicis,  suddenly  retracted  his  promise. 
Sforza  inquired  as  to  the  reason  of  this  sudden  change, 
and  learned  that  it  was  Pietro’s  influence  which  had 
outweighed  his  own.  As  he  never  dreamed  of  the  real 
motives  for  his  opposition,  he  saw  in  it  proof  of  the 
existence  of  a  secret  league  against  himself,  and  attrib¬ 
uted  the  change  of  policy  to  Lorenzo’s  death.  Whatever 
the  explanation,  however,  the  result  was  visibly  preju¬ 
dicial  to  him,  as  Florence,  the  long-time  ally  of  Milan, 
deserted  her  for  Naples.  He  determined  to  throw  a 
counter-poise  into  the  scales,  and  disclosed  the  whole 
affair  to  Alexander  VI.,  suggesting  to  him  the  formation 
of  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance,  to  which  the 
Republic  of  Venice  should  be  admitted  ;  Duke  Hercules 
III.  of  Ferrara  was  to  be  called  upon  at  the  same  time 
to  declare  for  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  leagues. 

Alexander,  who  was  aggrieved  by  Ferdinand’s  treat¬ 
ment  of  him,  accepted  Sforza’ s  proposition,  and  a  treaty 
of  confederation  was  signed  April  22,  1493,  whereby 
the  new  allies  agreed  to  maintain  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand  horse  and  ten  thousand  foot  to  preserve  the  pub¬ 
lic  peace.  Ferdinand  looked  with  apprehension  upon  the 
formation  of  this  league ;  but  he  believed  that  he  had  a 
sure  means  of  neutralizing  its  effects  by  despoiling  Lud¬ 
ovico  Sforza  of  his  power,  which,  although  it  could  not 
yet  be  called  a  usurpation,  had  extended  long  beyond 
the  proper  limit  of  its  duration ;  for,  although  young 
Galeasso,  his  nephew,  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-two, 
Sforza  still  continued  to  act  as  regent.  He,  therefore, 
called  upon  him  in  positive  terms  to  turn  over  the 
sovereign  power  to  his  nephew,  under  pain  of  being 
declared  a  usurper. 


52 


THE  BORGIAS. 


It  was  a  terrible  blow ;  but  its  danger  for  him  who 
dealt  it  lay  in  the  probability  that  it  would  drive 
Ludovico  into  one  of  those  political  combinations,  in 
which  he  was  an  adept,  and  from  which  he  never  shrank, 
no  matter  how  hazardous  they  might  be.  And  that  was 
what  actually  happened ;  Sforza,  disturbed  in  the  quiet 
possession  of  his  duchy,  determined  to  aim  a  blow  at 
the  stability  of  Ferdinand’s  seat  upon  his  throne. 

Nothing  could  be  easier  of  accomplishment.  He  was 
well  aware  of  the  warlike  inclinations  of  Charles  VIII. 
and  he  was  familiar  with  the  claims  of  France  to  the 
Kingdom  of  Naples.  He  sent  two  ambassadors  to  urge 
the  young  king  to  assert  the  rights  of  the  House  of 
Anjou,  which  the  House  of  Aragon  had  usurped,  and 
increased  the  temptation  to  engage  in  this  distant  and 
hazardous  enterprise  by  offering  him  the  privilege  of 
free  passage  through  his  territories. 

With  Charles  VIII.’s  well-known  character,  such  a 
proposition  could  not  fail  of  acceptance.  A  magnificent 
prospect  lay  spread  out  before  him  as  if  by  enchant¬ 
ment,  for  what  Ludovico  Sforza  offered  was  really  the 
lordship  of  the  Mediterranean,  a  protectorate  over  the 
whole  of  Italy ;  and  an  open  road,  by  way  of  Naples 
and  Venice  to  the  conquest  of  Turkey  or  of  the  Holy 
Land,  according  as  he  should  decide  to  avenge  the 
disaster  of  Nicopolis  or  of  Mansourah.  The  proposition, 
therefore,  was  eagerly  welcomed,  and  a  secret  treaty  of 
alliance  was  signed  by  Count  Charles  Belgiojoso  and 
the  Count  of  Calazzo  for  Sforza,  and  the  Bishop  of 
Saint-Malo  and  the  Seneschal  of  Beaucaire  for  Charles 
VIII. 

The  terms  of  the  treaty  were : 

That  the  King  of  France  should  attempt  the  conquest 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Naples; 


THE  BORGIAS. 


53 


That  the  Duke  of  Milan  should  give  the  King  of 
France  the  right  to  pass  through  his  territories,  and 
should  accompany  him  with  five  hundred  lances  ; 

That  the  Duke  of  Milan  should  allow  the  King  of 
France  to  equip  as  many  ships  as  he  wished  at  Genoa ; 

That  the  Duke  of  Milan  should  loan  the  King  of 
France  two  hundred  thousand  ducats  to  be  handed  him 
when  he  set  out  upon  the  expedition. 

Charles  VIII.,  on  his  side,  agreed : 

To  defend  the  personal  right  of  Ludovico  Sforza  to 
rule  over  the  Duchy  of  Milan  against  whomsoever  should 
undertake  to  deprive  him  thereof ; 

To  leave  in  the  town  of  Asti,  which  belonged  to  the 
Due  d’Orleans  by  inheritance  from  his  grandmother, 
Valentine  Visconti,  two  hundred  French  lances,  who 
would  always  be  at  hand  to  bear  aid  to  the  house  of 
Sforza ;  and 

To  hand  over  to  his  ally  the  principality  of  Tarento 
immediately  after  the  conquest  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Naples. 

The  treaty  was  no  sooner  concluded  than  Charles 
VIII.,  who  took  a  somewhat  exaggerated  view  of  the 
benefit  to  accrue  to  him  under  it,  set  about  clearing 
away  all  the  obstacles  which  might  delay  or  impede  his 
expedition — a  very  necessary  precaution,  as  his  relations 
with  the  great  powers  were  far  from  what  he  would  have 
liked  them  to  be. 

In  the  first  place,  Henry  VII.  of  England,  had 
landed  at  Calais  with  a  formidable  army  and  was  threat¬ 
ening  to  invade  France  anew. 

In  the  second  place,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  of  Spain, 
if  they  had  not  helped  to  bring  about  the  fall  of  the 
House  of  Anjou,  had,  at  least  assisted  the  Aragon 
branch  with  men  and  money. 


54 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Lastly,  the  war  with  the  King  of  the  Romans  had 
taken  on  a  new  lease  of  life  because  of  Charles  VIII.’s 
sending  back  Margaret  of  Burgundy  to  Maximilian, 
her  father,  and  his  subsequent  marriage  to  Anne  of 
Brittany. 

By  the  treaty  of  Etaples,  November  3,  1492,  Henry 
VII.  agreed  to  put  an  end  to  his  alliance  with  the  King 
of  the  Romans,  and  bound  himself  not  to  pursue  his 
conquests.  This  cost  Charles  VIII.  seven  hundred  and 
forty-five  thousand  golden  crowns,  in  addition  to  the 
expense  of  the  war  in  Brittany,  for  which  he  reimbursed 
Henry. 

By  the  treaty  of  Barcelona,  January  19,  1493,  Ferdi¬ 
nand,  the  Catholic,  and  Isabella,  agreed  not  to  furnish 
assistance  to  their  cousin,  Ferdinand  of  Naples,  and  to 
place  no  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  French  King’s 
plans  in  Italy.  These  concessions  cost  Charles  VIII. 
Perpignan,  the  county  of  Roussillon,  and  Cerdagne, 
which  Joanna  of  Aragon  gave  to  Louis  XI.  in  pledge 
for  a  loan  of  three  hundred  thousand  ducats,  and  which 
he  refused  to  return  on  repayment  of  that  sum,  so  well 
did  the  old  royal  fox  appreciate  the  value  of  those  gates 
of  the  Pyrenees,  which  he  could  close  from  within  in 
case  of  war. 

Lastly,  by  the  treaty  of  Senlis,  May  23,  1493,  Max¬ 
imilian  consented  to  forgive  France  for  the  affront  he 
had  received  from  her  king.  The  price  of  this  conde¬ 
scension  was  the  counties  of  Burgundy,  Artois,  Charolais 
and  the  lordship  of  Noyers,  which  Charles  received  as 
Margaret’s  marriage  portion,  together  with  the  towns  of 
Aire,  Hesdin,  and  Bethune,  which  he  agreed  to  deliver 
to  Philip  of  Austria  on  the  day  that  he  attained  his 
majority. 

By  dint  of  these  sacrifices,  the  young  king  found 


THE  BORGIAS. 


55 


himself  at  peace  with  his  neighbors  and  in  a  position  to 
undertake  the  enterprise  suggested  by  Ludovico  Sforza, 
which  enterprise  owed  its  origin,  as  we  have  said,  to  the 
refusal  of  the  Florentine  and  Neapolitan  embassies  to 
accede  to  his  plan  of  a  joint  entry  into  Rome,  and  the 
appointment  of  one  spokesman  for  all,  said  refusal,  in 
turn,  being  inspired  by  Pietro  dei  Medici’s  desire  to 
display  his  superb  jewels,  and  Gentili’s  to  deliver  his 
harangue. 

Thus  the  vanity  of  a  preceptor  and  the  vain-glory  of 
his  pupil,  were  to  cause  a  convulsion  of  the  earth, 
extending  from  the  Gulf  of  Tarento  to  the  Pyrenees. 

Alexander  VI.,  standing  at  the  centre  of  this  tremen¬ 
dous  convulsion,  of  which  Italy  had  not  yet  felt  the 
first  shock,  took  advantage  of  the  instinctive  absorption 
of  men’s  minds  in  what  was  impending  to  disregard  for 
the  first  time  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  grandiloquent 
speech  which  we  reported  above,  by  bestowing  the  red 
hat  upon  his  nephew,  Giovanni  Borgia,  who  was  made 
Archbishop  of  Mont  Real  and  Governor  of  Rome  by 
the  last  pope.  This  promotion,  which  was  allowed  to 
pass  without  comment  in  view  of  the  antecedents  of  the 
person  in  question,  was  intended  as  a  sort  of  experiment, 
and  its  success  encouraged  him  soon  after  to  raise  Caesar 
Borgia  to  the  Archbishopric  of  Valencia,  a  benefice 
which  he,  himself,  held  before  becoming  pope.  But  in 
this  instance  the  trouble  was  caused  by  the  recipient  of 
the  favor.  The  impetuous,  hot-headed  youth,  who  had  all 
the  instincts  and  all  the  vices  of  a  captain  of  condottieri , 
found  it  very  difficult  even  to  pretend  to  possess  any  of 
the  virtues  of  a  churchman ;  but  as  he  knew  from  his 
father’s  own  mouth  that  the  higher  secular  dignities 
were  reserved  for  his  elder  brother,  he  decided  to  accept 
what  was  offered  him  for  fear  he  would  get  nothing  else. 


56 


THE  BORGIAS. 


One  result  was,  however,  that  his  hatred  for  Francesco 
increased  tenfold,  for  thenceforth  he  was  his  rival  in 
ambition  as  well  as  in  love. 

Suddenly,  Alexander,  at  the  moment  when  he  expected 
it  least,  found  the  old  King  Ferdinand  making  friendly 
overtures  to  him  again.  The  pope  was  too  clever  a 
politician  to  bid  them  welcome  until  he  knew  what  they 
portended  ;  he  soon  learned  the  plot  that  was  being  con¬ 
cocted  at  the  French  court  against  the  King  of  Naples, 
and  everything  was  clear  to  his  mind. 

Thereupon  he  at  once  imposed  certain  conditions  as 
the  price  of  his  alliance. 

He  demanded  that  the  hand  of  Donna  Sancia, 
Alphonso’s  natural  daughter,  should  be  bestowed  upon 
Guiffry,  his  third  son. 

He  demanded  that  she  should  bring  to  her  spouse  as 
her  dowry  the  principality  of  Squillace,  and  the  county 
of  Cariati,  with  an  income  of  ten  thousand  ducats  and 
the  office  of  prothonotary,  one  of  the  seven  great  offices 
of  the  crown  which  were  independent  of  the  royal 
authority. 

He  demanded  for  his  eldest  son,  whom  Ferdinand,  the 
Catholic,  had  already  created  Duke  of  Gandia,  the 
principality  of  Tricarico,  the  counties  of  Chiaramonte, 
Lauria,  and  Carinola,  with  an  income  of  twelve  thousand 
ducats,  and  the  first  of  the  seven  great  offices  which 
should  fall  vacant. 

He  demanded  that  Virginio  Orsino,  his  ambassador 
at  the  Neapolitan  court,  should  obtain  the  third  of  these 
great  offices,  which  was  that  of  Constable,  and  the  very 
greatest  of  all. 

Finally,  he  demanded  that  Guilio  della  Rovere, 
one  of  the  five  cardinals  who  protested  against  his 
election,  and  who  had  entrenched  himself  at  Ostia, 


THE  BORGIAS. 


57 


where  the  oak  which  gave  him  his  name  and  formed  his 
crest  is  still  carved  on  all  the  walls,  should  be  driven 
from  the  town,  and  that  the  town  should  be  turned  over 
to  him. 

Everything  that  Alexander  demanded  was  granted. 

In  return  he  simply  bound  himself  not  to  deprive  the 
House  of  Aragon  of  the  investiture  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Naples,  which  his  predecessors  had  bestowed  upon  that 
house.  It  seemed  a  heavy  price  to  pay  for  a  mere 
promise,  but  that  promise,  if  it  were  kept,  ensured  the 
legitimacy  of  Ferdinand’s  reign.  For  Naples  was  a 
fief  of  the  Holy  See,  and  the  pope  alone  possessed  the 
power  to  determine  the  justice  of  each  competitor’s 
claims;  the  continuance  of  the  investiture,  therefore, 
was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  House  of  Aragon, 
at  a  time  when  the  House  of  Anjou  was  arming  to  dis¬ 
possess  her. 

Thus  we  see  that  in  this  first  brief  year  of  his  pon¬ 
tificate  Alexander  had  taken  long  strides  in  the  direction 
of  increasing  the  temporal  power  of  the  Holy  See.  To 
be  sure,  he  possessed  personally  the  least  extensive 
territories  of  all  the  Italian  powers,  but  through  the 
marriage  of  his  daughter,  Lucrezia,  with  the  Lord  of 
Pesaro,  he  already  had  one  hand  upon  Venice,  while  the 
other  reached  to  the  farthest  limits  of  Calabria  by 
means  of  Donna  Sancia’s  marriage  to  the  Prince  of 
Squillace,  and  the  cession  of  territory  to  the  Duke  of 
Gandia. 

When  this  treaty,  which  brought  him  such  great 
increase  of  power  and  influence  was  signed,  he  made 
Csesar,  who  complained  bitterly  that  he  was  always 
omitted  in  the  distribution  of  his  father’s  favors,  Car¬ 
dinal  of  Santa-Maria-Novella.  But  as  there  was  no 
precedent  in  the  history  of  the  Church  for  clothing  a 


58 


THE  BORGIAS. 


bastard  in  the  purple,  the  pope  found  a  few  false  witnesses 
who  swore  that  Caesar  was  the  son  of  Count  Ferdinand 
of  Castile ;  truly  an  invaluable  man  was  Don  Manuel 
Melchiori,  who  played  the  role  of  father  with  the  same 
imperturbable  gravity  with  which  he  formerly  played 
the  husband. 

The  nuptials  of  the  illegitimate  offspring  of  the  pope 
and  of  Alphonso  of  Aragon  were  celebrated  with  great 
splendor  and  with  the  twofold  pomp  of  royalty  and 
Holy  Church.  As  the  pope  had  stipulated  that  the 
newly  married  pair  should  live  at  Rome,  Cardinal  Caesar 
Borgia  undertook  to  make  fitting  arrangements  for  their 
arrival  and  reception,  while  Lucrezia,  whose  influence 
over  her  father  was  vastly  greater  than  a  woman  had 
ever  before  been  known  to  wield  at  the  papal  court, 
determined  to  do  everything  in  her  power  to  add  to  the 
eclat  of  the  occasion.  Caesar  therefore  went  out  to 
receive  the  young  people  with  a  brilliant,  and  richly 
equipped  escort  of  nobles  and  cardinals,  while  Lucrezia 
awaited  their  arrival  in  an  apartment  of  the  Vatican 
with  the  loveliest  and  noblest  of  the  women  of  Rome. 
A  throne  was  erected  there  for  the  pope  and,  at  his  feet, 
cushions  for  Lucrezia  and  Donna  Sancia. 

“  The  general  appearance  of  the  assemblage,”  says 
Tommaso  Tommasi,  “and  the  conversation  which  was 
carried  on  there  for  some  hours  would  have  led  one  to 
think  that  the  occasion  was  an  audience  given  by  some 
superb  royal  voluptuary  of  ancient  Assyria  rather  than 
the  severely  simple  consistory  of  a  Roman  pontiff,  who 
ought,  in  everything  he  does,  to  add  lustre  to  the  sanctity 
of  the  name  he  bears.  But,”  ironically  adds  the  same 
historian,  “  if  the  Pentecostal  vigil  was  marked  by  these 
seemly  performances,  the  ceremonies  with  which  the 
Descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  celebrated  on  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


59 


following  day  were  no  less  seemly,  and  in  accordance 
with  the  true  spirit  of  religious  observance ;  for  this  is 
what  the  master  of  ceremonies  has  to  say  thereof  in  his 
daily  journal : 

“  ‘  The  pope  entered  the  chapel  of  the  Holy  Apostles, 
and  by  his  side  upon  the  marble  desk  where  the  canons 
of  St.  Peter’s  are  accustomed  to  intone  the  Epistle  and 
Gospel,  were  seated  his  daughter,  Lucrezia,  and  Sancia, 
his  daughter-in-law,  while  round  about  them,  to  the  end¬ 
less  shame  of  the  Church,  and  the  scandal  of  the  people, 
were  many  other  Roman  women  much  more  worthy  to 
dwell  in  the  domain  of  Messalina  than  in  St.  Peter’s 
city.’  ” 

Thus,  at  Rome  and  at  Naples,  the  rulers  slept  while 
the  storm  was  gathering ;  thus  they  wasted  time  and 
money  in  vain  and  profitless  display,  while  the  French, 
wide  awake  and  on  the  alert,  were  already  waving  aloft 
the  torches  with  which  they  were  to  set  Italy  on  fire. 

The  fact  that  Charles  VIII.  was  bent  on  conquest  was 
no  longer  matter  of  doubt  to  anybody.  The  young  king 
had  sent  to  the  different  Italian  States  an  embassy  con¬ 
sisting  of  Perron  de  Baschi,  Briconnet,  D’Aubigny,  and 
the  president  of  the  parliament  of  Provence.  Their 
mission  was  to  ask  the  co-operation  of  the  Italian  princes 
in  restoring  the  House  of  Anjou  to  its  rights  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Naples. 

The  embassy  applied  at  first  to  the  Venetians,  whose 
assistance  and  advice  they  invoked  in  behalf  of  the 
king,  their  master.  But  the  Venetians,  true  to  their 
system  of  politics,  which  had  procured  for  them  the 
name  of  the  “  Jews  of  Christendom,”  replied  that  they 
could  not  promise  assistance  to  the  young  king,  as  they 
were  obliged  to  be  always  on  the  watch  for  aggressions 
from  the  Turk ;  and  as  to  giving  him  advice,  it  would 


60 


i 


THE  BORGIAS. 


be  altogether  too  presumptuous  for  them  to  offer  it  to  a 
prince  who  was  surrounded  with  such  experienced  gen¬ 
erals,  and  such  wise  ministers. 

Perron  de  Baschi,  failing  to  obtain  any  other  reply  set 
out  for  Florence.  Pietro  dei  Medici  received  him  at  an 
extraordinary  session  of  his  council,  to  which  he  had 
summoned  for  this  solemn  occasion,  not  only  the  Sev¬ 
enty,  but  also  all  the  gonfalonniers,  who  had  sat  in  the 
assembly  of  nobles  for  the  past  thirty-four  years.  The 
French  ambassador  acquitted  himself  of  his  errand, 
which  was  to  request  that  the  republic  would  permit 
the  French  army  to  pass  over  its  territories,  and  would 
agree  to  furnish  the  necessary  provisions  and  forage  for 
cash.  The  “  Magnificent  ”  republic  made  answer  that 
if  Charles  VIII.  were  proposing  to  march  against  the 
Turks  rather  than  against  Ferdinand,  they  would  be 
only  too  eager  to  grant  all  that  he  desired ;  but  that 
they  were  bound  to  the  House  of  Aragon  by  a  treaty 
of  alliance,  and  could  not  break  it  by  such  concessions 
as  the  King  of  France  asked  at  their  hands. 

The  ambassadors  next  went  to  Sienna.  The  poor 
little  republic,  terrified  at  being  so  honored  as  to  be 
thought  of,  replied  that  it  was  their  wish  to  maintain 
absolute  neutrality ;  and  that  they  were  too  weak  to 
declare  themselves  beforehand  either  for  or  against  such 
rivals,  as  they  would  naturally  be  compelled  to  side  with 
the  party  which  proved  to  be  stronger. 

Armed  with  this  response,  which  had  the  merit  of 
frankness,  at  least,  the  French  envoys  went  on  to  Rome, 
and  were  granted  an  audience  of  the  pope,  whom  they 
requested  to  invest  their  sovereign  with  the  title  of  King 
of  Naples. 

Alexander  replied  that,  inasmuch  as  his  predecessors 
had  so  invested  the  princes  of  the  House  of  Aragon,  he 


THE  BORGIAS. 


61 


could  not  dispossess  them  unless  he  should  be  convinced 
that  the  House  of  Anjou  had  a  stronger  claim  to  the 
title  than  its  present  holder.  He  also  reminded  Perron 
de  Baschi  that  Naples  was  a  fief  of  the  Holy  See  and 
therefore  the  choice  of  her  sovereign  was  the  prerogative 
of  the  pope  alone ;  so  that  to  attack  the  present  sover¬ 
eign  was  virtually  to  attack  the  Church  herself. 

The  result  of  the  embassy,  as  will  be  seen,  did  not 
promise  a  large  amount  of  assistance  to  Charles  VIII., 
so  he  determined  to  rely  entirely  upon  his  ally  Ludovico 
Sforza,  and  to  leave  all  questions  to  be  decided  by  the 
fortune  of  war. 

The  news  of  the  death  of  Ferdinand  which  reached 
him  about  the  same  time  confirmed  him  in  that  resolu¬ 
tion.  The  old  king,  on  his  return  from  a  hunting  expe¬ 
dition,  was  attacked  by  a  severe  catarrhal  cough,  which 
brought  him  to  death’s  door  in  two  days,  and  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  January,  1494,  he  breathed  his  last,  at 
the  age  of  seventy,  after  a  reign  of  thirty-six  years, 
leaving  the  throne  to  his  eldest  son,  Alphonso,  who  was 
at  once  named  as  his  successor. 

Ferdinand’s  decease  did  not  belie  his  title  of  the 
“  Happy,”  for  he  quitted  the  world  just  as  the  fortunes 
of  his  family  were  on  the  point  of  changing  for  the 
worse. 

The  new  king,  Alphonso,  was  no  novice  in  the  art  of 
war ;  he  had  already  fought  against  the  Venetians  and 
Florentines,  and  had  driven  the  Turks  out  of  Otianto ; 
he  was  reputed,  also,  to  be  as  subtle  a  manipulator  as  his 
father  of  the  devious  politics  then  so  much  in  vogue  at 
the  various  Italian  courts ;  so  that  he  did  not  despair  of 
numbering  among  his  allies  the  very  one  of  his  foes  with 
whom  he  was  at  war  when  he  first  heard  of  the  claims 
put  forward  by  Charles  VIII.;  we  refer  to  Bajazet  II. 


62 


THE  BORGIAS. 


He  consequently  sent  Camillo  Pandone,  one  of  his  confi¬ 
dential  ministers,  to  Bajazet,  to  impress  upon  him  that 
the  expedition  to  Italy  was  only  a  pretext,  on  the  part 
of  the  King  of  France,  to  put  himself  in  a  more  advan¬ 
tageous  position  with  relation  to  the  territories  conquered 
by  the  Mahometans,  and  that  when  he  was  once  upon  the 
Adriatic,  Charles  had  but  a  sail  of  a  day  or  two  to  reach 
Macedonia,  whence  he  could  march  upon  Constantinople 
by  land.  He  therefore  asked  Bajazet  for  six  thousand 
horse  and  as  many  foot,  to  assist  him  in  upholding  their 
mutual  interests,  and  agreed  to  pay  them  as  long  as  they 
remained  in  Italy.  Pandone  was  to  be  joined  at  Taranto 
by  Giorgio  Bucciarda,  sent  by  Alexander  VI.,  with  in¬ 
structions  to  appeal  to  the  Turk  for  aid  against  the 
Christians,  in  the  pope’s  name  ! 

Meanwhile,  pending  the  arrival  of  Bajazet’s  reply, 
which  might  be  delayed  for  some  months,  Alphonso  re¬ 
quested  a  meeting  between  the  pope,  Pietro  dei  Medici 
and  himself,  to  take  counsel  concerning  matters  of  urg¬ 
ent  concern.  They  appointed  to  meet  at  Yicovaro,  near 
Tivoli,  and  the  three  were  punctually  on  hand  at  the 
appointed  time  and  place. 

Alphonso,  before  leaving  Naples,  laid  out  the  plan  of 
campaign  for  his  sea  forces,  and  gave  his  brother  Frederic 
the  command  of  a  fleet  of  thirty-five  galleys,  eighteen 
large  war  vessels,  and  twelve  smaller  craft,  with  orders 
to  wait  at  Livorno  for  the  fleet  which  Charles  VIII.  was 
fitting  out  in  the  harbor  of  Genoa,  and  keep  watch  of 
its  movements ;  he,  therefore,  desired  particularly  to 
concert  with  his  allies  a  scheme  of  operations  on  land. 
He  had  at  his  immediate  disposal,  without  reckoning 
the  contingent  to  be  furnished  by  his  allies,  one  hundred 
squadrons  of  heavy  cavalry,  twenty  men  to  the  squad¬ 
ron,  and  three  thousand  cross-bowmen  and  light  horse. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


63 


He  proposed,  consequently,  that  he  should  march  at 
once  into  Lombardy,  excite  a  revolution  in  favor  of  his 
nephew,  Galeasso,  and  drive  Ludovico  Sforza  out  of 
Milan  before  he  could  receive  assistance  from  France ; 
so  that  Charles  VIII.,  immediately  upon  crossing  the 
Alps,  would  find  an  enemy  waiting,  whom  he  would 
have  to  fight,  instead  of  the  ally  who  had  promised  him 
a  free  passage,  and  men  and  money. 

This  was  the  proposition  of  a  clever  politician  as  well 
as  a  bold  captain,  but  as  each  one  of  the  three  had  come  to 
the  meeting  to  promote  his  own  interests,  and  not  for  the 
good  of  all,  it  was  coldly  received  by  Pietro  dei  Medici, 
who  found  that  no  more  prominent  part  was  assigned 
him  in  the  war  than  that  to  which  an  attempt  had  been 
made  to  relegate  him  in  the  matter  of  the  embassy,  and 
was  flatly  rejected  by  Alexander  VI.,  who  proposed  to 
use  Alphonso’s  troops  for  his  own  ends.  He  reminded 
him  that  one  of  the  conditions  of  his  agreement  not  to 
disturb  his  title  to  the  crown  of  Naples  was  that  Car¬ 
dinal  Giulio  della  Rovere  was  to  be  expelled  from  Ostia, 
and  that  place  to  be  delivered  to  him.  Moreover,  the 
benefits  which  had  accrued  to  Virginio  Orsini  as  the 
result  of  his  embassy  to  Naples,  had  excited  the  ire  of 
Prosper  and  Fabricio  Colonna  against  this  favorite  of 
Alexander  VI.,  and  almost  all  the  villages  in  the  neigh¬ 
borhood  of  Rome  belonged  to  them.  Now,  the  pope 
could  not  exist  in  the  midst  of  such  powerful  enemies, 
and  it  was  certainly  of  the  utmost  importance  that  he 
who  was  the  head  and  heart  of  a  league  of  which  the 
others  were  but  the  body  and  limbs,  should  lead  a  tran¬ 
quil  life ;  therefore,  the  first  and  most  important  point 
was  to  deliver  him  from  them  all. 

Although  Alphonso  clearly  understood  the  reasons  for 
Pietro  dei  Medici’s  cold  reception  of  his  plan,  while 


64 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Alexander  did  not  even  put  him  to  the  trouble  of  seek¬ 
ing  for  his,  he  was  none  the  less  compelled  to  bow  to 
their  decisions,  and  leave  the  former  to  defend  the 
Apennines  against  the  French,  while  he  assisted  the 
other  to  rid  himself  of  his  Roman  neighbors.  He 
therefore  pressed  on  the  siege  of  Ostia,  and  gave  a  part 
of  his  light  horse  to  Yirginio,  who  was  already  in  com¬ 
mand  of  two  hundred  of  the  pope’s  men-at-arms ;  this 
little  force  was  to  be  stationed  about  Rome,  and  keep 
the  Colonna  to  their  allegiance.  He  divided  the  rest 
of  his  troops  into  two  parts,  one  of  which  he  entrusted 
to  his  son  Ferdinand,  with  instructions  to  stir  up  the 
petty  princes  throughout  Romagna  to  raise  and  equip 
the  contingents  they  had  promised,  while  he  with  the 
other  watched  the  defiles  of  the  Abruzzi. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  April,  at  three  in  the  morn¬ 
ing,  Alexander  was  rid  of  the  first  and  most  inveterate 
of  his  enemies.  Giulio  della  Rovere,  realizing  the  im¬ 
possibility  of  holding  out  longer  against  Alphonso’s 
troops,  went  on  board  a  brigantine  which  set  him  ashore 
again  at  Savona. 

From  that  day  Yirginio  Orsino  carried  on,  without 
cessation,  the  famous  guerrilla  warfare,  which  has  made 
of  the  Roman  Campagna  the  most  poetic  desert  in  the 
whole  world. 

Meanwhile,  Charles  VIII.  was  at  Lyons,  not  only  un¬ 
certain  as  to  the  best  route  for  him  to  take  into  Italy, 
but  beginning  to  reflect  upon  the  many  hazardous 
chances  of  such  an  expedition.  Except  from  Ludovico 
Sforza  he  had  utterly  failed  to  find  sympathy  or  co-opera¬ 
tion  anywhere,  so  that  it  seemed  more  than  probable 
that  he  might  expect  to  find  himself  opposed,  not  by 
Naples  alone,  but  by  all  Italy.  He  had  expended  in 
his  preparations  almost  all  the  money  he  had  at  his 


THE  BORGIAS. 


65 


disposal ;  Madame  de  Beaujeu  and  the  Due  de  Bourbon 
were  making  a  great  outcry  against  the  undertaking, 
and  Briconnet,  who  originally  advised  it,  no  longer 
dared  to  support  it.  More  irresolute  than  ever,  the  king 
had  already  countermanded  the  orders  issued  to  several 
bodies  of  troops  who  were  in  movement,  when  Cardinal 
Giulio  della  Rovere,  driven  from  Italy  by  the  pope, 
arrived  at  Lyons  and  was  granted  audience  by  the 
king. 

The  cardinal  hastened  to  the  king’s  presence,  con¬ 
sumed  by  hatred,  but  with  hope  in  his  heart,  and  found 
him  on  the  point  of  abandoning  the  project  upon  which 
this  bitter  foe  of  Alexander  VI.  based  all  his  dreams  of 
vengeance.  He  told  Charles  VIII.  how  his  enemies 
were  divided  among  themselves,  and  how  each  of  them 
was  pursuing  his  own  private  end.  Pietro  dei  Medici, 
the  gratification  of  his  love  of  display,  and  the  pope, 
the  aggrandizement  of  his  family.  He  reminded  him 
that  he  had  fleets  all  equipped  in  the  harbors  of  Ville- 
franche,  Marseilles,  and  Genoa,  whose  expensive  arma¬ 
ments  would  all  go  for  naught,  and  that  he  had  sent  his 
grand  equerry  Pierre  d’Urfe  on  ahead  to  prepare  luxur¬ 
ious  apartments  in  the  Spenola  and  Doria  palaces. 
Lastly,  he  impressed  upon  him  that  ridicule  and  abuse 
would  be  heaped  upon  him  from  all  sides  if  he  aban¬ 
doned  an  undertaking  he  had  proclaimed  with  such  a 
flourish  of  trumpets,  and  to  prepare  for  which  he  was 
obliged  to  conclude  these  treaties  of  peace  so  burdensome 
as  those  with  Henry  VII.,  Maximilian,  and  Ferdinand, 
the  Catholic.  Giulio  della  Rovere  reckoned  wisely  when 
he  appealed  to  the  young  king’s  pride  ;  Charles  did  not 
hesitate  another  instant.  He  ordered  his  cousin,  the 
Due  d’Orleans,  afterward  Louis  XII.,  to  take  command 
of  the  French  fleet,  and  sail  with  it  to  Genoa ;  he 
Vol.  II. — 5. 


66  THE  BOKGIAS. 

despatched  a  courier  to  Antoine  de  Bessay,  Baron  of 
Tricastel,  calling  upon  him  to  march  to  Asti  with  the 
two  thousand  Swiss  infantry  he  had  levied  in  the  Cantons ; 
and  he  himself  set  out  from  Vienne,  in  Dauphine,  on  the 
twenty-third  of  August,  1494,  crossed  the  Alps  at 
Mount  Geneve  without  meeting  with  the  slightest 
attempt  at  opposition  from  anybody,  and  entered  Pied¬ 
mont  and  Montferrat,  which  were  at  that  time  governed 
each  by  a  regent — the  sovereigns  of  the  two  principali¬ 
ties,  Charles- Jean  Aime  and  Guillaume- Jean  being  but 
six  and  eight  years  of  age  respectively. 

The  regents  came  to  meet  Charles,  one  at  Turin,  the 
other  at  Casal,  each  attended  by  a  numerous  and 
brilliant  retinue,  and  each  covered  with  jewels  and 
precious  stones.  Charles,  who  was  perfectly  well  aware 
that,  notwithstanding  all  their  effusive  friendliness,  they 
had  both  concluded  treaties  with  his  enemy,  Alphonso 
of  Naples,  received  them  with  entire  courtesy  and  begged 
them  to  prove  the  friendship  for  himself  which  they 
were  so  loud  in  protesting,  by  loaning  him  the  diamonds 
with  which  they  were  bespangled  from  head  to  foot. 
The  regents  could  not  do  otherwise  than  comply  with  a 
request  which  was  equivalent  to  a  command.  They 
took  off  their  necklaces,  rings  and  ear-rings,  for  which 
Charles  gave  them  a  receipt  in  detail  and  then  put  them 
in  pledge  for  twenty-four  thousand  ducats.  With  that 
sum  in  his  strong-box  he  set  out  for  Asti,  of  which  the 
Due  d’ Orleans  had,  as  we  have  said,  retained  the 
sovereignty;  and  there  he  was  joined  by  Ludovico  Sforza 
and  Prince  Hercules  of  Este,  Duke  of  Ferrara,  his 
father-in-law.  They  brought  with  them  not  only  the 
troops  and  money  promised,  but  a  retinue  composed  of 
the  most  beautiful  women  in  Italy. 

The  balls,  f£tes,  and  j  oustings  began  on  a  scale  of 


THE  BORGIAS. 


67 


magnificence  surpassing  anything  that  had  ever  been 
seen  in  Italy.  But  they  were  suddenly  interrupted  by 
the  King’s  illness.  It  was  the  first  outbreak  in  Italy  of 
the  contagion  brought  from  the  New  World  by  Christo¬ 
pher  Columbus,  and  called  by  the  Italians,  the  French 
plague,  and  by  the  French  the  Italian  plague.  The 
probability  is  that  a  part  of  Columbus’  crew,  who  came 
from  Genoa  or  its  neighborhood  had  already  come  back 
from  America,  bringing  with  them  that  awful  scourge  as 
the  price  to  be  paid  for  the  rich  mines  of  gold. 

However,  the  King’s  indisposition  did  not  prove  to 
be  so  serious  as  was  feared  at  first.  He  recovered  in  a 
few  weeks  and  went  on  to  Pavia,  where  the  young  Duke 
Giovanni  Galeasso  lay  dying.  He  and  the  King  of 
France  were  cousins-german,  sons  of  two  sisters  of  the 
House  of  Savoy,  so  that  Charles  could  not  in  common 
decency  refrain  from  paying  him  a  visit.  He  went, 
therefore,  to  the  castle  where  he  dwelt,  more  like  a 
prisoner  than  like  its  lord.  He  found  him  half-reclining 
upon  a  couch,  pale  and  emaciated,  by  dissipation  said 
some,  by  a  slow,  but  deadly  poison  said  others.  But 
however  desirous  the  poor  youth  may  have  been  to 
complain  of  his  fate,  he  dared  say  nothing,  for  his  uncle, 
Ludovico  Sforza,  did  not  leave  the  King  of  France 
alone  with  him  for  an  instant.  But  just  as  Charles  was 
rising  to  take  his  leave,  a  door  was  thrown  hastily  open 
and  gave  entrance  to  a  young  woman,  who  threw  herself 
at  the  King’s  feet.  It  was  Galeasso’s  wife,  and  she  im¬ 
plored  her  cousin  to  take  no  hostile  step  against  her  father, 
Alphonso,  or  her  brother,  Ferdinand.  Sforza  frowned 
anxiously  and  threateningly,  for  he  did  not  know  what 
impression  this  incident  might  produce  upon  his  ally ; 
but  he  was  soon  reassured.  Charles  replied  that  he  had 
gone  too  far  to  recede,  that  the  glory  of  his  name,  as 


68  THE  BORGIAS. 

well  as  the  interest  of  his  realm  was  at  stake,  and  that 
they  were  subjects  of  too  great  importance  to  be  sacri¬ 
ficed  to  his  feeling  of  compassion,  although  it  was  very 
deep  and  sincere.  The  poor  woman,  whose  last  hope 
was  shattered,  threw  herself  sobbing  bitterly  into  her 
husband’s  arms,  while  Charles  and  Sforza  left  the  room. 
Galeasso’s  doom  was  sealed. 

Two  days  later  Charles  set  out  for  Florence,  accom¬ 
panied  by  his  ally,  but  they  had  gone  no  farther  than 
Parma  when  they  were  overtaken  by  a  courier,  who 
informed  Sforza  that  his  nephew  was  dead.  Ludovico 
at  once  apologized  to  Charles  for  leaving  him  to  continue 
his  march  alone,  but  said  that  the  matters  which 
required  his  presence  at  Milan  were  of  so  great  moment 
that  he  must  return  thither  without  an  hour’s  delay. 
He  had  nothing  less  to  do  than  ensure  his  own  peaceable 
succession  to  the  victim  of  his  ambition. 

Charles  VIII.  continued  his  journey,  not  without 
uneasiness.  The  sight  of  the  dying  prince  had  moved 
him  deeply,  for  he  was  sure  in  his  inmost  heart  that 
Sforza  had  murdered  him,  and  a  murderer  might  easily 
be  a  traitor.  Thus  he  was  marching  through  a  strange 
country  with  a  declared  enemy  in  front  of  him  and  a 
doubtful  friend  in  his  rear.  They  were  just  beginning 
to  enter  the  mountainous  district  and,  as  the  army  had 
no  supply  of  provisions,  but  lived  by  foraging  from  day  to 
day,  the  least  forced  halt  would  leave  them  without  food. 
Immediately  before  them  was  Fivizzano,  which  was 
nothing  but  a  long,  straggling  village,  surrounded  by  a 
wall,  but  beyond  Fivizzano  were  Sarzane  and  Pietra 
Santa,  which  were  fortified  places,  looked  upon  as 
impregnable ;  furthermore,  the  country  was  unhealthy, 
especially  in  October,  and  produced  nothing  but  oil, 
drawing  its  supply  of  grain  even  from  other  provinces, 


THE  BORGIAS. 


69 


so  that  a  whole  army  might  be  wiped  out  there  in  a  few 
days  by  famine  and  miasmatic  air,  without  reckoning  upon 
the  means  of  resistance  which  the  nature  of  the  ground 
offered  in  profusion.  The  situation  was  a  serious  one, 
but  the  vain-glory  of  Pietro  dei  Medici  came  to  Charles’ 
assistance. 

Pietro  had,  our  readers  will  remember,  entered  into 
an  undertaking  to  prevent  the  French  from  passing 
through  Tuscany ;  but  when  he  saw  the  enemy  coming 
down  from  the  Alps,  he  felt  less  confidence  in  his  own 
strength,  and  appealed  for  help  to  the  pope.  But  the 
report  of  the  ultramontane  invasion  no  sooner  reached 
Romagna,  than  the  Colonna  declared  that  they  were 
soldiers  of  the  King  of  France  and,  assembling  all  the 
forces  they  could  muster,  took  possession  of  Ostia,  and 
there  awaited  the  coming  of  the  French  fleet  to  cover 
their  passage  to  Rome.  The  pope,  therefore,  instead  of 
sending  troops  to  Florence,  was  obliged  to  call  in  all  the 
force  at  his  command  to  guard  the  capital ;  but  he  did 
send  word  to  Pietro  that  if  Bajazet  sent  him  the  troops  he 
had  asked  him  for,  he  would  place  them  at  his  disposal. 

Pietro  had  come  to  no  resolution  and  formed  no  plan, 
when  he  learned  at  the  same  moment  two  startling  pieces 
of  news.  A  jealous  neighbor,  the  Marquis  of  Tordinovo, 
had  pointed  out  to  the  French,  the  weak  spot  in  the 
walls  of  Fivizzano,  so  that  they  had  carried  the  place 
by  assault,  and  put  the  garrison  and  the  inhabitants  to 
the  sword.  Furthermore,  Gilbert  de  Montpensier,  who 
was  watching  the  coast  to  keep  open  communication 
between  the  French  army  and  fleet,  had  fallen  in  with 
a  detachment  sent  by  Paul  Orsino  to  reinforce  the  gar¬ 
rison  of  Sarzane  and,  after  a  sharp  fight  of  an  hour, 
cut  it  in  pieces.  No  quarter  was  granted  the  prisoners, 
but  every  man  that  was  taken  was  massacred. 


70 


THE  BORGIAS. 


It  was  the  first  time  that  the  Italians,  who  were  accus¬ 
tomed  to  the  chivalrous  modes  of  warfare  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  had  come  in  contact  with  the  terrible  dwellers 
beyond  the  Alps,  who  were  less  advanced  than  they  in 
civilization,  and  looked  upon  war  as  a  matter  of  life  and 
death  and  not  as  a  scientific  game.  For  this  reason  the 
news  of  these  two  butcheries  caused  a  great  sensation  at 
Florence,  the  richest  and  most  artistic  city  in  Italy,  as 
well  as  the  most  flourishing.  Everyone  pictured  the 
French  to  himself  as  counterparts  of  the  savage  hordes 
of  ancient  times  who  extinguished  fire  with  blood,  and 
the  prophetic  words  of  Savonarola,  who  foretold  the 
ultramontane  invasion  and  the  destruction  which  would 
follow  in  its  wake,  recurred  to  the  minds  of  all.  There¬ 
upon  the  popular  excitement  rose  to  such  a  pitch  that 
Pietro  dei  Medici,  determined  to  obtain  peace  at  any 
price,  procured  a  decree  from  the  authorities  of  the 
republic,  to  the  effect  that  an  embassy  should  be  sent  to 
the  conqueror,  and  was  so  firmly  resolved  to  place  him¬ 
self  in  the  French  king’s  hands  that  he  secured  his  own 
appointment  as  one  of  the  ambassadors.  He  left  Florence 
in  company  with  four  others  and,  when  he  reached 
Pietra  Santa,  sent  a  request  to  Charles  for  a  safe-conduct 
for  himself  alone.  On  the  following  day  Bri§onnet  and 
De  Piennes  came  to  meet  him,  and  took  him  before  the 
King. 

Notwithstanding  his  illustrious  name,  and  the  great 
power  which  he  possessed,  Pietro  dei  Medici,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  French  nobility,  who  considered  it  degrading  to 
engage  in  any  business  or  profession,  was  nothing  more 
than  a  wealthy  merchant,  with  whom  it  was  not  worth 
while  to  stand  very  strictly  on  ceremony.  So  Charles 
received  him  on  horseback  and  asked  him  haughtily,  in 
the  tone  of  a  master  addressing  his  underling,  whence 


THE  BORGIAS. 


71 


came  the  assurance  which  led  him  to  refuse  him  passage 
through  Tuscany.  Pietro  replied  that  his  father,  Lor¬ 
enzo,  concluded  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Ferdinand  of 
Naples,  with  the  express  consent  of  Louis  XI.  himself ; 
and  that  he  was  compelled  in  honor  to  abide  by  the 
terms  of  that  treaty ;  but  that  he  did  not  propose  to 
carry  his  devotion  to  the  House  of  Aragon,  and  his 
opposition  to  that  of  France  any  farther,  and  was  there¬ 
fore  ready  to  do  whatever  Charles  might  demand  at  his 
hands. 

The  King,  who  did  not  anticipate  such  profound  hu¬ 
mility,  demanded  that  Sarzane  should  be  put  in  his 
hands ;  Pietro  consented  without  a  moment’s  hesitation. 
Thereupon,  the  King,  with  a  view  of  seeing  how  far  the 
ambassador  of  the  magnificent  republic  would  carry  his 
deference,  replied  that  this  concession  was  very  far  from 
satisfying  him,  and  that  he  must  have  in  addition  the 
keys  of  Pietra  Santa,  Pisa,  Librafatta,  and  Livorno. 
Pietro  made  no  more  demur  than  in  the  matter  of  Sar¬ 
zane,  and  consented  to  hand  over  the  places  named  upon 
Charles’  simple  word  to  restore  them  to  him  when  the 
conquest  of  Naples  was  achieved. 

Lastly,  when  Charles  saw  how  very  easy  to  deal  with 
the  negotiator  sent  to  him  proved  to  be,  he  demanded, 
as  a  final  condition,  but  a  sine  qua  non  of  his  royal  pro¬ 
tection,  that  the  magnificent  republic  should  loan  him  the 
sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  florins.  Pietro,  who  was  as 
free  with  the  treasure  as  with  fortresses,  replied  that  his 
fellow-citizens  would  be  happy  to  render  their  new  ally 
this  service. 

Charles,  thereupon,  furnished  him  with  a  horse  to  ride 
and  ordered  him  to  go  before  him,  and  begin  the  fulfill¬ 
ment  of  his  agreements  by  delivering  to  him  the  four 
strongholds  he  demanded.  Pietro  obeyed,  and  the 


72 


THE  BORGIAS. 


French  army,  under  the  guidance  of  the  grandson  of 
Cosmo  the  Great,  and  the  son  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnifi¬ 
cent,  continued  its  triumphal  march  through  Tuscany. 

On  his  arrival  at  Lucca,  Pietro  learned  that  the  con¬ 
cessions  he  had  made  to  the  King  of  France  had  caused 
tremendous  excitement  at  Florence.  The  magnificent 
republic  thought  that  Charles  would  demand  nothing 
more  than  a  simple  passage  through  their  territory,  so 
that  the  dissatisfaction  at  the  news  was  universal,  and 
was  increased  by  the  return  of  the  other  ambassadors 
whom  Pietro  did  not  so  much  as  consult  as  to  the  steps 
he  took. 

Pietro  himself,  deeming  his  return  to  Florence  to  be 
essential,  requested  Charles’  permission  to  precede  him 
thither.  As  he  had  fulfilled  all  his  promises,  except 
the  loan,  which  must  necessarily  be  negotiated  at  Flor¬ 
ence,  the  King  made  no  objection,  and  on  the  evening 
of  the  day  that  he  left  the  army,  Pietro  stole  into  his 
palace  on  Via  Larga,  incognito. 

The  next  day  he  proposed  to  make  his  appearance 
before  the  seignorial  body,  but  when  he  reached  the 
square  of  the  old  palace,  he  was  met  by  the  gonfalonnier 
Jacobi  di  Nerli,  who  told  him  that  it  was  useless  for  him 
to  try  to  go  farther,  and  pointed  out  Lucas  Corsini  stand¬ 
ing  at  the  door,  sword  in  hand,  and  with  guards  at  his 
back,  under  instructions  to  prevent  his  entrance,  if  he 
tried  to  force  his  way  in. 

Pietro  was  so  amazed  at  this  opposition,  the  first  he 
had  ever  experienced,  that  he  did  not  even  try  to  make 
head  against  it.  He  returned  home,  and  wrote  to  his 
brother-in-law,  Paul  Orsino,  to  come  to  him  with  his 
gendarmes.  Unfortunately  for  him,  the  letter  was  in¬ 
tercepted.  The  seignorial  body  construed  it  as  an  at¬ 
tempt  to  incite  revolution,  and  called  upon  the  citizens 


THE  BORGIAS. 


73 


to  rise.  The  latter  hastily  seized  their  arms,  rushed 
from  the  houses,  and  assembled  en  masse  upon  the  Square 
of  the  Palace.  Meanwhile,  Cardinal  Giovanni  dei  Medici 
had  taken  horse,  and,  with  the  expectation  of  support 
from  the  Orsino,  was  riding  through  the  streets  of  Flor¬ 
ence,  followed  by  his  retainers,  and  shouting  his  war 
cry  : 

“  Palle !  Palle !  ” 

But  times  were  changed  ;  the  cry  found  no  echo,  and 
when  the  cardinal  reached  Via  Delle  Calzaioli,  he  was 
greeted  with  such  threatening  murmurs  that  he  began  to 
realize,  that  instead  of  trying  to  stir  up  a  revolution  in 
Florence,  the  best  thing  he  could  do  would  be  to  leave 
the  city  before  the  popular  fury  ran  too  high.  He  hur¬ 
ried  back  to  his  palace,  expecting  to  find  his  brothers, 
Pietro  and  Giulio  there ;  but  they  had  made  their  escape 
by  the  San  Gallo  gate,  under  the  protection  of  Orsino 
and  his  gendarmes.  The  danger  was  imminent,  and 
Giovanni  undertook  to  follow  their  example,  but  wher¬ 
ever  he  went  the  uproar  which  greeted  him  grew  more 
and  more  threatening.  At  last,  realizing  that  his  peril 
increased  with  every  moment,  he  alighted  from  his  horse 
and  entered  a  house,  the  door  of  which  was  standing 
open.  This  house,  fortunately  enough,  communicated 
in  the  rear  with  a  Franciscan  convent :  one  of  the 
brothers  loaned  the  fugitive  his  frock,  and  under  the 
protection  of  that  lowly  garb,  the  cardinal  succeeded  in 
leaving  Florence,  and  joined  his  brothers  in  the  Apen¬ 
nines. 

On  the  same  day  the  Medici  were  declared  traitors 
and  rebels,  and  ambassadors  were  sent  to  the  King  of 
France.  They  found  him  at  Pisa,  in  the  act  of  restor¬ 
ing  her  old-time  independence  to  that  city,  which  had 
been  eighty-seven  years  under  the  Florentine  yoke. 


74 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Charles  made  no  other  response  to  the  ambassadori  than 
to  announce  his  purpose  to  march  at  once  upon  Flor¬ 
ence. 

The  magnificent  republic,  as  may  well  be  imagined, 
was  terrified  beyond  description  by  this  declaration. 
She  had  no  time  to  prepare  for  defence,  nor  strength  to 
defend  herself  as  she  was.  Every  powerful  family, 
however,  assembled  its  retainers  and  vassals,  and  having 
placed  arms  in  their  hands,  awaited  events,  with  a  fixed 
purpose  not  to  begin  hostilities,  but  to  defend  themselves 
if  attacked  by  the  French.  It  was  agreed  that  if  any¬ 
thing  should  make  necessary  a  call  to  arms,  the  signal 
should  be  given  by  a  peal  of  bells  on  all  the  churches. 
This  resolution  was  likely  to  lead  to  more  frightful  re¬ 
sults  in  Florence,  perhaps,  than  in  any  other  city.  The 
palaces  of  that  day  which  have  endured  to  our  own  time 
are  still  veritable  fortresses,  and  the  everlasting  combats 
of  Guelphs  and  Ghibellines  had  familiarized  the  Tuscans 
with  the  methods  of  street  warfare. 

The  King  made  his  appearance  at  the  San  Friano  gate 
on  the  seventeenth  of  November  at  evening ;  he  found 
the  whole  body  of  the  Florentine  nobility  assembled 
there,  arrayed  in  their  most  superb  garments,  accom¬ 
panied  by  the  clergy  singing  hymns,  and  by  masses  of 
the  people,  to  whom  any  change  whatever  was  a  change 
for  the  better,  and  who  hoped  to  regain  some  semblance 
of  liberty  by  the  fall  of  the  Medici.  Charles  VIII. 
stopped  an  instant  under  a  sort  of  gilded  canopy,  which 
had  been  prepared  for  him,  and  answered  by  a  few  evas¬ 
ive  words  the  grandiloquent  phrases  addressed  to  him 
by  the  seignorial  body ;  then,  having  called  for  his 
lance,  he  rested  it  upon  his  thigh  and  gave  the  order  to 
march  into  the  city,  which  he  traversed  from  end  to  end 
with  his  army,  alighting  finally  at  the  Medici  palace 


THE  BORGIAS. 


75 


which  had  been  made  ready  to  receive  him.  On  the 
following  day  the  negotiations  began,  but  the  respective 
parties  were  very  far  from  being  in  accord.  The  Flor¬ 
entines  had  received  Charles  as  a  guest,  whereas  he  had 
entered  the  city  as  a  conqueror.  And  so  when  the 
deputies  of  the  seignorial  body  suggested  their  willingness 
to  ratify  the  treaty  made  by  Pietro  dei  Medici,  the  King 
replied  that  that  treaty  was  mere  waste  paper,  as  they 
had  expelled  its  author ;  that  Florence  was  his  by  con¬ 
quest  as  he  had  demonstrated  the  night  before  by  riding 
through  her  streets  with  lance  in  rest,  and  that  he  would 
reserve  the  question  of  sovereignty  to  be  decided  accord¬ 
ing  to  his  good  pleasure.  He  informed  them  further, 
that  on  the  morrow  he  would  give  them  his  ultimatum 
in  writing,  and  would  let  them  know  whether  he  would 
reinstate  the  Medici  in  power  or  delegate  his  authority 
to  the  seignorial  body. 

This  response  spread  consternation  broadcast  in  Flor¬ 
ence,  but  the  result  was  to  strengthen  the  resolution  of 
the  Florentines  to  defend  themselves. 

Charles  was  exceedingly  amazed  at  what  he  saw  in 
his  passage  through  the  city  of  its  overflowing  population, 
for  not  only  were  the  streets  through  which  he  rode 
almost  impassable  on  account  of  the  crowd,  but  the 
houses,  from  roof  to  cellar,  seemed  to  be  bursting  with 
people.  It  is  probable,  indeed,  that  Florence  contained 
at  this  time  something  like  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
souls. 

On  the  following  day  the  deputies  called  again  upon 
the  King  at  the  appointed  hour  and  were  admitted  to 
his  presence,  when  the  discussion  began  anew.  At  last, 
when  it  became  evident  that  they  could  reach  no  under¬ 
standing,  the  royal  secretary,  who  was  standing  at  the 
foot  of  the  throne  upon  which  Charles  sat  with  his  head 


76 


i 


THE  BORGIAS. 


covered,  unfolded  a  paper  and  began  to  read  the  terms 
proposed  by  the  King  of  France.  But  before  the  read¬ 
ing  was  a  third  done,  the  discussion  broke  out  again 
hotter  than  ever,  and  when  Charles  declared  that  those 
terms  should  be  accepted  or  he  would  order  his  trumpets 
to  sound,  Pietro  Capponi,  the  secretary  of  the  republic, 
often  called  the  Scipio  of  Florence,  snatched  the  shame¬ 
ful  capitulation  from  the  hands  of  the  King’s  secretary 
and  tore  it  in  pieces. 

“  Sound  your  trumpets,  if  you  choose,  Sire,”  he  cried, 
“  and  we  will  sound  our  bells.” 

With  that  he  threw  the  pieces  in  the  face  of  the 
stupefied  reader,  and  rushed  from  the  chamber  to  give 
the  terrible  word  which  would  turn  Florence  into  a 
bloody  battlefield. 

Strange  as  it  may  appear,  this  audacious  retort  saved 
the  city.  The  French  believed  that  the  Florentines 
must  have  some  reliable  resources  of  which  they  knew 
nothing,  or  they  would  not  dare  to  talk  so  boldly,  espe¬ 
cially  to  a  foe  who  had  thus  far  encountered  no  obstacle 
whatsoever.  The  few  discreet  men  who  retained  some 
influence  over  the  King  advised  him  to  abate  his  pre¬ 
tentions  and  Charles  eventually  proposed  more  reasonable 
terms,  which  were  accepted,  signed  by  both  parties  and 
made  public  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  November,  during 
mass  at  the  Church  of  Santa  Maria. 

These  were  the*  terms : 

The  republic  was  to  pay  to  Charles  VIII.  as  subsidy 
the  sum  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  florins  in 
three  installments. 

The  decree  of  sequestration  of  the  property  of  the 
Medici  was  to  be  rescinded,  as  well  as  that  which  put  a 
price  upon  their  heads. 

The  seignorial  body  were  to  agree  to  pardon  the  Pisans 


THE  BORGIAS.  77 

for  their  offences,  on  condition  that  they  renewed  their 
allegiance  to  Florence. 

Lastly,  the  republic  was  to  recognize  the  claims  of  the 
Duke  of  Milan  to  Sarzane  and  Pietra  Santa,  and  those 
claims  were  to  he  submitted  to  arbitration  to  decide 
their  money  value. 

The  King  of  France,  on  his  side,  agreed  to  restore  the 
fortresses  which  had  been  placed  in  his  hands  when  he 
should  either  have  made  himself  master  of  the  City  of 
Naples  or  should  have  put  an  end  to  the  war  by  a  peace 
or  a  two  years’  truce,  or  when  he  should  have  taken  his 
leave  of  Italy  for  any  reason. 

Two  days  after  the  publication  of  this  accommodation 
Charles,  to  the  vast  delight  of  the  seignorial  body, 
quitted  Florence  and  marched  toward  Rome  by  way  of 
Poggibondi  and  Sienna. 

The  pope  was  beginning  to  share  the  universal  alarm ; 
he  had  learned  of  the  massacres  of  Fivizzano,  Lunigiane, 
and  Immola ;  he  knew  that  Pietro  dei  Medici  had  given 
up  the  fortress  of  Tuscany,  that  Florence  had  surren¬ 
dered  at  discretion,  and  that  Catherine  Sforza  had  come 
to  terms  with  the  conqueror ;  he  saw  the  scattered 
Neapolitan  troops  passing  through  Rome,  demoralized 
and  disheartened,  on  their  way  to  the  Abruzzi  to 
reorganize ;  so  that  he  found  himself  without  protection 
against  an  enemy  who  was  marching  directly  upon  him, 
with  all  Romagna  in  his  power  from  sea  to  sea,  and  with 
his  forces  extending  in  an  unbroken  line  from  Piombino 
to  Ancona. 

Just  at  this  time  Alexander  received  Bajazet’s  reply  to 
his  request  for  assistance ;  it  had  been  so  long  delayed  be¬ 
cause  the  papal  envoy  and  the  Neapolitan  ambassador  were 
arrested  by  Giovanni  della  Rovere,  brother  of  Cardinal 
Giulio,  at  the  moment  of  landing  at  Sinigaglia.  They 


78  THE  BORGIAS. 

were  the  bearers  of  a  verbal  message  to  the  effect  that 
the  Sultan,  to  his  great  regret,  could  not  assist  his 
Holiness  with  troops  because  he  just  then  had  his  hands 
full  with  three  wars,  one  with  the  Sultan  of  Egypt, 
another  with  the  King  of  Hungary,  and  the  third  with 
the  Greeks  of  Macedonia  and  Epirus.  But  they  were 
accompanied  by  a  favorite  of  the  Sultan,  who  was 
entrusted  with  a  private  letter  for  Alexander,  in  which 
Bajazet  offered,  upon  certain  conditions,  to  furnish  some 
pecuniary  assistance.  Although  the  messengers  were 
arrested,  as  we  have  said,  the  Turk  found  a  way  to  for¬ 
ward  his  despatch  to  the  pope,  and  we  transcribe  it  in 
all  its  artlessness. 

“  Sultan  Bajazet,  son  of  Sultan  Mahomet  II.  by  the 
grace  of  God  Emperor  of  Asia  and  Europe,  to  the  father 
and  master  of  all  Christians,  Alexander,  by  Divine 
Providence  Pope  of  Rome  : 

“  After  the  congratulations  which  we  owe  to  your 
Holiness,  and  which  we  offer  with  our  whole  heart,  we 
take  leave  to  inform  your  Holiness  by  the  mouth  of  your 
envoy,  Giorgio  Bucciarda,  that  we  have  learned  of  your 
convalescence  with  exceeding  delight  and  satisfaction. 
The  said  Bucciarda  having  informed  us  among  other 
things  that  the  King  of  France,  who  is  marching  against 
your  Grandeur,  has  expressed  a  desire  to  have  in  his 
hands  our  brother,  Djein,  who  is  now  in  your  power — 
a  thing  which  would  not  only  be  against  our  wishes,  but 
which  would  have  very  disastrous  results  for  your 
Grandeur  and  for  all  Christendom — we  have  conceived, 
in  consultation  with  your  envoy,  Giorgio,  a  most  excellent 
scheme  for  your  repose  and  honor,  and  for  our  personal 
satisfaction  at  the  same  time.  It  would  be  well  that  our 
brother,  Djein,  who,  being  a  man,  is  mortal,  and  who  is 
in  your  Grandeur’s  power,  should  depart  this  life  at  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


79 


earliest  possible  moment,  because  his  decease,  which 
would  be  a  blessing  to  him  in  his  present  position,  would 
be  very  useful  to  your  Eminence  and  very  conducive  to 
your  repose,  and,  at  the  same  time,  very  agreeable  to 
me,  who  am  your  friend.  If  this  suggestion  be  accepted 
by  your  Grandeur,  as  I  trust  it  will  be,  owing  to  your 
wish  to  oblige  us,  it  will  be  much  better,  both  for  your 
Grandeur’s  welfare  and  for  our  satisfaction,  that  the 
thing  be  done  sooner,  rather  than  later,  and  by  the 
surest  method  which  can  be  employed,  and  that  the  said 
Djein  be  made  to  pass  from  the  sufferings  of  this  world 
to  a  happier  and  more  tranquil  world,  where  his  soul 
will  find  peace  at  last.  If  your  Grandeur  adopts  this 
plan  and  sends  to  us  the  body  of  our  brother,  we,  Sultan 
Bajazet,  bind  ourselves  to  deliver  to  your  Grandeur,  at 
such  place,  and  into  such  hands  as  you  may  appoint, 
the  sum  of  three  hundred  thousand  ducats,  wherewith 
you  can  purchase  some  fine  domain  for  your  children, 
and  in  order  to  facilitate  such  purchase,  we  will  consent 
to  place  the  three  hundred  thousand  ducats  in  the  hands 
of  a  third  party,  pending  the  fulfillment  of  these  con¬ 
ditions,  so  that  your  Grandeur  may  be  quite  certain  to 
receive  them  on  the  appointed  day,  in  exchange  for  our 
brother’s  body.  Furthermore,  I  engage  my  word  to 
your  Eminence,  for  your  greater  security,  that  so  long  as 
your  Eminence  sits  upon  the  papal  throne,  no  injury 
shall  be  inflicted  by  me  or  mine,  by  my  retainers  or  my 
countrymen  upon  any  Christian  of  any  quality  or  condition 
whatsoever,  upon  land  or  sea ;  and  for  your  Grandeur’s 
greater  satisfaction  and  sense  of  security,  and  to  the 
end  that  no  doubt  may  linger  in  your  mind  as  to  the 
ultimate  fulfillment  of  what  I  promise,  I  have  sworn 
and  affirmed,  in  the  presence  of  your  envoy,  Bucciarda, 
by  the  true  God  whom  we  adore,  and  by  our  Holy 


80 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Gospel,  that  it  shall  be  fulfilled,  point  by  point,  from 
the  first  to  the  last.  And  now,  to  renew  and  make  more 
complete  your  Grandeur’s  sense  of  security,  and  to  re¬ 
move  every  vestige  of  doubt  from  your  heart,  and 
strengthen  and  deepen  your  conviction  of  my  sincerity, 
I,  the  said  Sultan  Bajazet,  do  hereby  swear  by  the  true 
God  who  made  heaven  and  earth,  and  all  things  that 
are  therein,  I  swear,  I  say,  by  the  only  God  in  whom  we 
believe  and  whom  we  adore,  that  I  will  scrupulously  and 
religiously  hold  to  what  I  have  said  herein,  and  that  I 
will  neither  do  nor  attempt  anything  in  future  to  the 
prejudice  of  your  Grandeur. 

“  Done  in  our  palace  at  Constantinople,  the  twelfth 
of  September  of  the  year  1494  since  the  birth  of  Christ.” 

This  letter  caused  the  Holy  Father  unbounded  satis¬ 
faction.  A  paltry  four  or  five  thousand  Turks  would 
be  of  little  service  in  his  then  plight,  and  would  be 
likely  to  compromise  the  cause  of  the  supreme  head  of 
Christendom  rather  than  assist  it ;  whereas  three  hun¬ 
dred  thousand  ducats,  that  is  to  say,  almost  a  million 
lire,  was  a  very  convenient  thing  to  receive  under  any 
circumstances.  To  be  sure,  so  long  as  Djein  lived  Alex¬ 
ander  received  an  income  of  a  hundred  and  eighty 
thousand  lire,  which  represented  a  capital  of  nearly  two 
millions ;  but  when  one  is  in  need  of  money,  one  must 
make  a  sacrifice  for  cash.  Notwithstanding,  Alexander 
did  not  come  at  once  to  a  determination,  other  than  to 
act  as  circumstances  might  dictate. 

But  another  matter,  concerning  which  it  was  most 
essential  that  he  should  come  to  a  speedy  conclusion, 
was  to  the  attitude  he  should  adopt  toward  the  King  of 
France.  He  refused  at  first  to  believe  in  the  possibility 
of  the  success  of  the  French  in  Italy,  and  had  staked 
all  the  chances  of  the  future  eminence  of  his  family 


THE  BORGIAS. 


81 


upon  his  alliance  with  the  House  of  Aragon.  But  now 
the  House  of  Aragon  was  tottering  to  its  fall,  and  a 
volcano,  more  formidable  than  Vesuvius  threatened  to 
destroy  Naples.  It  was  plain  therefore  that  he  must 
change  his  policy,  and  make  his  peace  with  the  victor¬ 
ious  King,  which  was  by  no  means  an  easy  thing  to  do, 
as  Charles  bore  him  bitter  ill-will  because  he  had  re¬ 
fused  to  invest  him  with  the  Neapolitan  crown,  and  had 
confirmed  the  title  of  the  House  of  Aragon  thereto. 

Alexander  sent  Cardinal  Francesco  Piccolomini  to 
the  King  of  France  to  see  what  accommodation  could  be 
arrived  at.  The  choice  appeared  ill-advised  at  first 
glance  because  the  ambassador  was  the  nephew  of  Pope 
Pius  II.,  who  had  waged  unremitting  warfare  with  the 
House  of  Anjou ;  but  Alexander,  in  acting  thus,  had  a 
secret  motive,  which  his  advisers  could  not  fathom.  He 
guessed  that  Charles  would  not  receive  his  envoy  with¬ 
out  some  demur,  and  that  in  the  discussions  which  his 
repugnance  would  necessarily  lead  to  Piccolomini  would 
be  sure  to  come  in  contact  with  the  men  who  governed 
the  young  King’s  actions.  Now,  over  and  above  his 
ostensible  mission  for  Charles  VIII.  Piccolomini  had 
secret  instructions  to  be  communicated  to  his  most  influ¬ 
ential  advisers.  They  wTere  Brigonnet  and  Philippe  de 
Luxembourg,  and  Piccolomini  was  authorized  to  offer 
each  of  them  a  cardinal’s  hat. 

As  Alexander  had  anticipated,  his  envoy  was  refused 
an  audience  of  the  King,  and  was  obliged  to  confer  with 
his  advisers.  The  result  was  that  Piccolomini  returned 
to  Pome  with  the  King’s  refusal  to  listen  to  him,  but 
with  the  promise  of  Br^onnet  and  Luxembourg  to  use 
whatever  influence  they  possessed  in  favor  of  the  Holy 
Father,  and  to  prepare  the  King’s  mind  to  receive  a  sec¬ 
ond  embassy. 

Vol.  II.— 6. 


82  THE  BORGIAS. 

Meanwhile  the  French  were  approaching  nearer  and 
nearer,  never  halting  for  more  than  forty-eight  hours  in 
one  place ;  so  that  the  necessity  of  coming  to  some  defi¬ 
nite  arrangement  with  Charles  became  more  and  more 
urgent.  He  entered  Sienna  and  Viterbo  without  strik¬ 
ing  a  blow  ;  Yves  d’ Alegre  and  Louis  de  Ligny  received 
Ostia  from  the  hands  of  the  Colonnas ;  Civita  Vecchia 
and  Corneto  opened  their  gates ;  the  Orsini  made  sub¬ 
mission,  and  Giovanni  Sforza,  the  pope’s  son-in-law, 
withdrew  from  the  Aragonese  alliance.  Alexander 
decided  therefore  that  the  moment  had  arrived  for  him 
to  abandon  his  ally,  and  sent  to  Charles  the  Bishops  of 
Concordia  and  Terni,  and  Monsignore  Gratian,  his  own 
confessor.  They  were  instructed  to  renew  the  promise 
of  the  cardinalate  to  Br^onnet  and  Philippe  de  Luxem¬ 
bourg,  and  had  full  power  to  treat  in  their  master’s  name, 
whether  Charles  chose  to  include  Alphonso  II.  in  the 
treaty,  or  refused  to  sign  except  with  the  pope  alone. 
They  found  the  King  wavering  between  the  innuendoes 
of  Giulio  della  Rovere,  who,  as  an  eye-witness  of  the 
pope’s  simony,  urged  upon  him  that  he  ought  to  assem¬ 
ble  a  council,  and  procure  the  deposition  of  the  un¬ 
worthy  head  of  the  Church,  and  the  secret  support 
accorded  the  pope  by  the  Bishops  of  Mans  and  Saint 
Malo.  He  finally  decided  to  investigate  matters  for 
himself,  and  without  coming  to  any  decision  beforehand 
he  pursued  his  march,  and  sent  the  pope’s  ambassadors 
back  to  Rome,  accompanied  by  the  Marechal  de  Gie, 
the  Seneschal  of  Beaucaire,  and  Jean  de  Gannay,  first 
president  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  They  were  in¬ 
structed  to  say  to  Alexander : 

1st.  That  the  King’s  most  earnest  desire  was  to  be 
allowed  to  enter  Rome  without  resistance,  and  that  if 
that  were  allowed,  voluntarily  and  freely,  he  would 


THE  BORGIAS.  83 

respect  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Father  and  the  privi¬ 
leges  of  the  Church. 

2d.  That  the  King  wished  that  Djein  should  be  placed 
in  his  hands  to  be  used  as  a  weapon  against  the  Sultan, 
if  the  fancy  should  seize  him  to  carry  the  war  into 
Macedonia  or  Turkey  or  the  Holy  Land. 

3d.  That  all  other  matters  were  of  such  trifling  im¬ 
portance  that  they  would  easily  be  adjusted  at  the  first 
conference. 

The  ambassadors  added  that  the  French  army  was 
within  two  days  march  of  Rome,  and  that  Charles  would 
probably  appear  in  person  to  receive  the  reply  of  his 
Holiness  in  the  evening  of  the  second  day  thereafter. 

It  was  impossible  to  reckon  much  upon  negotiations 
with  a  prince  whose  movements  were  so  expeditious  as 
that.  Alexander  notified  Ferdinand  that  he  must  leave 
Rome  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  in  the  interest  of 
his  own  safety,  but  Ferdinand  refused  to  listen  to  the 
suggestion  and  declared  that  he  would  not  go  out  at  one 
gate  until  Charles  actually  entered  at  another.  Even 
so,  his  further  stay  in  Rome  was  not  long.  On  the  sec¬ 
ond  day,  about  eleven  in  the  morning,  a  look-out  sta¬ 
tioned  on  top  of  the  Castle  of  San  Angelo,  whither  the 
pope  had  withdrawn,  cried  out  that  the  advance-guard 
of  the  enemy  was  in  sight :  immediately  Alexander  and 
the  Duke  of  Calabria  went  up  to  the  terrace  at  the  top 
of  the  fortress,  and  made  sure  with  their  own  eyes  that 
the  soldier  had  told  the  truth.  Not  till  then  did 
the  Duke  of  Calabria  take  horse,  and  ride  out  of  the 
Porta  San  Sebastiano  at  the  very  moment  that  the 
French  vanguard  halted  five  hundred  paces  from  the 
Porta  del  Popolo.  It  was  the  thirty-first  of  December, 
1494. 

At  three  in  the  afternoon,  the  whole  army  having 


84 


THE  BORGIAS. 


come  up,  the  advance-guard  moved  forward  once  more, 
with  drums  beating  and  colors  flying. 

“It  consisted,”  says  Paulus  Jovius,  an  eye-witness 
(History,  Book  II,  Page  41),  “  of  Swiss  and  Germans, 
with  tight-fitting  short  coats,  of  all  colors  of  the  rain¬ 
bow.  They  were  armed  with  short,  sharp  swords,  like 
those  of  the  ancient  Romans,  and  carried  ashen  lances 
ten  feet  long  with  a  narrow,  pointed  head ;  about  a 
fourth  part  of  them  carried,  instead  of  lances,  halberds 
with  heads  made  in  the  shape  of  an  axe,  and  with  a 
four-cornered  point ;  these  weapons  were  used  to  cut  or 
thrust  indifferently.  The  first  rank  of  each  battalion 
wore  helmets  and  shields,  which  protected  the  head  and 
breast,  so  that  when  .they  were  fighting  they  presented 
to  the  enemy  a  triple  line  of  steel,  which  rose  and  fell 
like  the  quills  of  a  porcupine.  To  every  thousand 
soldiers  a  company  of  a  hundred  fusileers  was  attached. 
The  officers  wore  waving  plumes  upon  their  helmets  to 
distinguish  them  from  their  soldiers.” 

After  the  Swiss  infantry  came  the  Gascon  cross-bow¬ 
men  ;  there  were  five  thousand  of  them,  and  they  wore 
a  very  simple  uniform  in  striking  contrast  to  the  rich 
costume  of  the  Swiss,  the  shortest  of  whom  was  at  least 
a  head  taller  than  any  one  of  them.  They  were  excel¬ 
lent  soldiers,  however,  agile  and  daring,  and  especially 
noted  for  the  rapidity  with  which  they  stretched  and 
fired  their  iron  cross-bows. 

Behind  them  came  the  cavalry,  the  pink  of  the 
French  nobility,  with  gilded  helmets  and  collars,  and 
silk  and  velvet  doublets ;  with  swords,  each  of  which 
had  a  name  of  its  own,  coronets,  each  of  which  repre¬ 
sented  a  broad  domain,  and  colors,  each  of  which 
represented  an  affair  of  the  heart.  In  addition  to  these 
talismans,  each  horseman  carried  in  his  hand,  like  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


85 


Italian  gendarmes,  a  lance  with  a  grooved,  solid  point, 
and  at  his  saddle-bow  a  war-club  cut  in  ridges,  or 
studded  with  nails.  Their  horses  were  large  and  strong ; 
but  their  tails  and  ears  were  cut  after  the  French  fash¬ 
ion.  Unlike  the  horses  of  the  Italian  gendarmes,  they 
wore  no  waxed  leather  housings,  and  were  consequently 
more  exposed.  Each  horseman  was  followed  by  three 
horses,  the  first  ridden  by  a  page  armed  like  his  mas¬ 
ter,  and  the  others  by  two  squires,  who  were  called 
lateral  auxiliaries,  because  in  battle  they  fought  on 
the  right  and  left  of  their  leader.  This  troop  was  not 
only  the  most  magnificently  equipped,  but  the  most 
numerous  in  the  whole  army,  for  as  there  were  twenty- 
five  hundred  knights,  the  three  retainers  who  attended 
each  of  them  carried  the  total  strength  of  the  troop  to 
ten  thousand. 

Five  thousand  light  horse  came  next,  carrying  great 
wooden  bows,  from  which  they  shot  long  arrows  from  a 
distance,  like  the  English  archers.  They  were  of  great 
assistance  in  a  battle,  for  they  were  capable  of  very 
swift  motion,  and  could  dash  in  an  instant  from  one 
wing  to  the  other,  and  from  rear-guard  to  van,  wherever 
help  was  needed,  and  when  their  quivers  were  empty, 
gallop  away  again  at  such  speed  that  neither  infantry 
nor  heavy  cavalry  could  follow  them.  Their  defensive 
armor  consisted  of  a  helmet  and  a  half-shield  ;  some  of 
them  also  carried  a  short  lance,  designed  to  nail  a  foe  to 
the  ground  when  he  was  overthrown.  They  all  wore 
long  cloaks,  adorned  with  shoulder-knots  and  silver 
stars,  amid  which  shone  the  armorial  bearings  of  their 
chiefs. 

Last  of  all  came  the  young  King’s  escort ;  four  hun¬ 
dred  archers,  including  a  hundred  Scots,  formed  the 
hedge  on  either  side,  while  two  hundred  of  the  most 


86 


THE  BORGIAS. 


illustrious  knights  marched  on  foot  beside  the  prince 
carrying  heavy  war-clubs  over  their  shoulders.  In  the 
centre  of  this  superb  body  of  men  came  Charles  VIII., 
cased  in  magnificent  armor  as  was  his  steed  ;  at  his  right 
and  left  rode  Cardinal  Ascanio  Sforza,  brother  of  the 
Duke  of  Milan,  and  Cardinal  Giulio  della  Rovere,  whom 
we  have  mentioned  so  often ;  he  was  afterwards  Pope 
Julius  II.  Cardinals  Colonna  and  Savelli  were  directly 
behind  them,  and  next  came  Fabricio  and  Prosper  Col¬ 
onna,  together  with  all  the  Italian  princes  and  generals, 
who  had  joined  the  triumphal  march  of  the  conqueror, 
and  were  freely  intermingled  with  the  great  nobles  of 
France. 

The  people  assembled  in  vast  crowds  to  watch  the 
march  of  these  unfamiliar,  strangely  attired  soldiers 
from  beyond  the  Alps,  and  were  listening  anxiously 
to  a  noise  like  the  rumbling  of  thunder,  which  drew 
nearer  and  nearer.  Soon  the  very  earth  seemed  to 
tremble,  the  glass  rattled  in  the  windows,  and  then  the 
cause  of  it  all  was  explained  by  the  sight  of  thirty-six 
bronze  cannon,  each  drawn  by  six  stout  horses,  which 
came  rumbling  along  on  their  carriages  behind  the 
King’s  escort.  The  length  of  these  cannon  was  eight 
feet,  and  as  the  opening  was  large  enough  for  a  man 
to  put  his  head  in,  it  was  estimated  that  each  of  these 
awe-inspiring  machines,  which  were  quite  unknown 
among  the  Italians,  weighed  nearly  six  thousand 
pounds. 

Behind  the  cannon  came  culverins  sixteen  feet  long, 
and  falconnets,  of  which  the  smallest  carried  a  ball  as 
large  as  a  grenade.  This  formidable  artillery  formed 
the  rear-guard  of  the  French  army,  and  ended  the  pro¬ 
cession.  Six  hours  had  elapsed  since  the  first  Swiss 
passed  through  the  gate,  when  the  great  guns  entered 


THE  BORGIAS. 


87 


the  city ;  as  the  night  had  then  fallen,  and  as  only  one 
out  of  every  six  artillerymen  carried  a  torch,  the  effect 
was  rather  more  depressing  than  when  surrounding  ob¬ 
jects  were  lighted  up  by  the  sun. 

The  young  King  took  up  his  quarters  in  the  Palazzo 
di  Venetia,  all  the  artillery  being  bivouacked  upon  the 
square  and  in  the  neighboring  streets.  The  rest  of  the 
army  scattered  here  and  there  throughout  the  city. 

During  the  evening  the  keys  of  Rome  and  of  the  gate 
of  the  Belvedere  Garden  were  brought  to  the  King, 
rather  to  do  him  honor,  than  to  set  his  mind  at  ease  con¬ 
cerning  his  personal  safety.  The  same  thing,  by  the  way, 
was  done  for  the  Duke  of  Calabria. 

The  pope,  as  we  have  said,  was  at  the  Castle  of  San 
Angelo  with  no  retinue  but  six  cardinals ;  so  that,  on 
the  very  first  day  after  his  entrance  into  the  city,  the 
King  had  about  him  a  much  more  strikingly  brilliant 
court  than  that  of  the  head  of  the  Church. 

Thereupon  the  subject  of  the  propriety  of  convoking 
a  council  to  try  Alexander  for  simony,  and  strive  for 
his  deposition,  was  again  discussed.  But  the  King’s 
principal  advisers  who  were  retained  by  the  other  side, 
as  we  have  seen,  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
a  most  inopportune  moment  to  stir  up  a  new  schism  in 
the  Church  when  they  were  contemplating  an  expedition 
against  the  infidels.  As  the  King  was  at  heart  of  the 
same  opinion,  it  was  not  very  difficult  to  convince  him, 
and  it  was  decided  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  his 
Holiness. 

The  negotiations,  however,  were  within  an  ace  of 
being  broken  off  before  they  were  fairly  begun ;  for  the 
first  thing  Charles  demanded  was  that  the  Castle  of  San 
Angelo  should  be  turned  over  to  him,  whereas  it  was  the 
last  thing  the  pope  was  willing  to  accede  to  because  the 


88 


THE  BORGIAS. 


castle  seemed  to  him  to  be  his  only  absolutely  safe  re¬ 
treat.  Twice  did  Charles,  in  his  youthful  impetuosity 
determine  to  lay  hold  by  force  of  what  was  not  given  up 
to  him  voluntarily,  and  twice  did  he  turn  his  guns  upon 
the  Holy  Father’s  abiding  place ;  but  he  was  unmoved 
by  these  demonstrations,  and  this  time  the  King,  obsti¬ 
nate  as  he  was,  was  the  one  to  recede.  That  point  was 
laid  aside,  and  the  following  terms  were  agreed  upon : 

The  relations  between  his  Majesty,  the  King  of 
France,  and  the  Holy  Father,  were  thenceforth  to  be 
such  as  should  exist  between  sincere  friends  and  staunch 
allies. 

Pending  the  final  conquest  of  the  Kingdom  of  Naples 
the  King  of  France  was  to  occupy  the  fortresses  of 
Civita  Vecchia,  Terracina,  and  Spoleto,  for  the  comfort 
and  convenience  of  his  army. 

Lastly,  Cardinal  Valentino  (such  was  the  name  as¬ 
sumed  by  Caesar  Borgia,  from  his  archbishopric  of  Val- 
entia)  was  to  accompany  King  Charles  as  apostolic 
legate,  more  accurately,  as  hostage. 

When  these  terms  were  definitely  settled,  the  cere¬ 
monial  to  be  observed  at  the  interview  was  decided 
upon.  King  Charles  left  the  Palazzo  di  Venetia,  and 
took  up  his  abode  at  the  Vatican.  At  an  hour  previously 
fixed,  he  entered  the  garden  by  one  door  opening  into  it 
from  the  palace,  while  the  pope,  who  had  not  left  the 
Castle  of  San  Angelo,  passed  through  the  corridor  which 
connected  that  fortress  with  the  Vatican,  and  went  down 
into  the  garden  by  another  door.  Almost  immediately 
the  King  espied  the  pope  and  knelt  where  he  stood ;  but 
the  pope  pretended  not  to  see  him,  whereupon  the  King 
rose  and  walked  several  steps  nearer  to  him,  and  knelt  a 
second  time  ;  as  there  was  a  clump  of  trees  between  them 
at  that  moment,  his  Holiness  had  a  new  excuse  for  still 


THE  BORGIAS. 


89 


feigning  ignorance  of  his  presence,  and  the  King  was 
compelled  to  go  through  with  the  whole  performance ; 
he  rose  again,  took  several  steps  more,  and  knelt  a  third 
time  directly  in  front  of  the  Holy  Father,  who  finally 
perceived  him  and  hurried  up  to  him  as  if  to  prevent 
his  kneeling.  He  took  off  his  baretta,  raised  the  King 
from  the  ground,  embraced  him  and  kissed  him  affec¬ 
tionately  on  the  forehead  and  declined  to  cover  his  head 
again  until  the  King  had  put  on  his  cap,  which  he 
assisted  him  with  his  own  hands  to  do.  After  they  had 
stood  together  for  a  short  time  and  had  exchanged  a 
few  words  of  courteous  and  friendly  salutation,  the  King 
straightway  begged  his  Holiness  to  add  to  the  Sacred 
College  the  name  of  Giullaume  Brigonnet,  Bishop  of 
Saint-Malo.  As  this  was  all  agreed  upon  beforehand 
between  the  pope  and  the  bishop,  although  the  King 
knew  nothing  of  it,  Alexander  seized  the  opportunity 
of  granting  what  was  asked  him  without  hesitation,  and 
instantly  despatched  a  servant  to  his  son,  Cardinal 
Valentino,  in  quest  of  a  cloak  and  hat.  He  then  took 
the  King  of  France  by  the  hand  and  escorted  him  to  the 
so-called  Hall  of  the  Parrot,  where  the  ceremony  of 
installing  the  new  cardinal  was  to  take  place.  The 
solemn  ceremony  of  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  his  Holiness, 
as  the  supreme  head  of  the  Christian  Church,  which  was 
to  be  taken  by  Charles,  was  postponed  for  two  days. 

When  the  appointed  day  arrived,  the  pontiff  had 
assembled  about  him  every  Roman  of  note  in  the  nobil¬ 
ity,  the  clergy,  or  the  army.  Charles,  too,  came  to  the 
solemn  function  with  a  gorgeous  retinue  of  princes, 
prelates,  and  captains.  At  the  door  of  the  palace  he 
was  met  by  four  cardinals,  two  of  whom  took  their 
places  at  his  sides,  and  the  other  two  behind  him,  and 
with  his  whole  suite  following  on,  they  walked  through 


90 


THE  BORGIAS. 


* 

a  long  succession  of  apartments  full  of  guards  and 
retainers,  to  the  audience  hall,  where  the  pope  was 
seated  on  his  throne  with  his  son,  Csesar  Borgia,  standing 
behind  him. 

As  soon  as  he  stepped  within  the  door,  the  King  of 
France  began  to  go  through  with  the  customary  cere¬ 
monial  and,  having  duly  bent  his  knee  and  kissed  the 
feet,  hands,  and  forehead  of  his  Holiness,  he  stood  erect 
while  the  first  president  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris, 
stepping  forward,  said  in  a  loud  voice : 

“  Most  Holy  Father : 

“  Behold  my  King,  ready  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
which  he  owes  to  you  ;  but  it  is  usual  in  France  that  he 
who  offers  his  services  to  his  lord  should  receive  in 
exchange  such  favors  as  he  seeks.  Consequently,  his 
Majesty,  while  undertaking  for  his  part  to  deal  with 
your  Holiness  much  more  munificently  than  he  asks  your 
Holiness  to  deal  with  him,  ventures  to  entreat  your 
Holiness  to  grant  him  three  favors.  In  the  first  place, 
the  confirmation  of  the  privileges  heretofore  accorded  to 
the  King  himself,  the  Queen,  and  their  son,  the  Dauphin ; 
secondly,  the  investiture  of  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  for 
himself  and  his  successors ;  and  lastly,  the  delivery  to 
him  of  the  person  of  Sultan  Djein,  brother  of  the 
Emperor  of  the  Turks.” 

The  pope  was  struck  dumb  for  a  moment  by  this 
speech,  for  he  did  not  anticipate  these  three  demands, 
which  Charles  put  forward  thus  publicly  for  no  other 
reason  than  to  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  refuse  them. 
But  he  recovered  his  self-possession  very  soon,  and 
replied  that  he  would  gladly  confirm  all  the  privileges 
accorded  to  the  House  of  France  by  his  predecessors,  so 
that  the  King  might  look  upon  his  first  request  as 
granted ;  that  the  matter  of  the  investiture  was  one  to 


THE  BORGIAS. 


91 


be  discussed  in  the  Council  of  Cardinals,  but  that  he 
would  do  his  utmost  to  bring  about  a  result  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  his  wishes ;  lastly,  as  to  the  Sultan’s  brother, 
that  he  would  postpone  the  subject  to  be  discussed  in 
the  Sacred  College  at  a  more  convenient  season,  but  he 
declared  that  it  should  not  be  his  fault  if  the  King  were 
not  satisfied  upon  that  point  as  well,  since  it  was  clearly 
for  the  good  of  all  Christendom  that  Djein  should  be 
turned  over  to  him,  the  purpose  being  to  render  the 
success  of  a  crusade  more  certain. 

After  listening  to  this  response  Charles  bowed  his 
head,  signifying  that  he  was  content ;  he  remained 
standing  with  uncovered  head,  in  front  of  the  pope, 
while  the  first  president  began  again,  as  follows : 

“  Most  Holy  Father : 

“  It  is  an  ancient  custom  of  Christian  kings,  particu¬ 
larly  of  the  most  Christian  kings  of  France,  to  declare 
through  their  ambassadors  their  deep  respect  for  the 
Holy  See,  and  for  the  pontiffs  whom  Divine  Providence 
raises  to  that  eminence.  But  his  present  Most  Christian 
Majesty,  desiring  to  visit  the  tomb  of  the  Holy  Apostles, 
determined  to  perform  this  obligation,  which  he  regards 
as  a  most  sacred  one,  not  by  the  mouth  of  an  ambassador, 
or  by  any  other  delegated  authority,  but  in  his  own 
person;  and  so,  Most  Holy  Father,  his  Majesty,  the 
King  of  France,  recognizes  in  you  the  one  true  vicar  of 
Christ  on  earth,  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  apostles, 
Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul,  and  promises  and  swears  to 
maintain  the  filial  faith  and  respect  which  the  kings, 
his  predecessors,  have  been  wont  to  promise  and  swear 
to  you ;  and  he  does  hereby  devote  himself  and  all  his 
power  to  your  Holiness’  service  and  the  interests  of  the 
Holy  See.” 

The  pope  rose  to  his  feet  with  a  great  joy  at  his  heart, 


92 


THE  BOKGIAS. 


for  the  taking  of  the  oath  of  allegiance  with  such  pub¬ 
licity  banished  all  fears  of  a  council.  Thenceforth  he 
was  disposed  to  grant  whatever  the  King  of  France 
chose  to  ask  ;  he  took  him  by  the  left  hand  and  made  a 
short  but  exceedingly  friendly  response,  calling  him  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Church.  The  ceremony  at  an  end,  they 
left  the  audience  hall  together,  the  pope  still  holding 
the  King’s  hand,  and  walked  thus  to  the  apartment 
where  the  consecrated  vestments  were  laid  aside.  The 
pope  made  a  pretence  of  proposing  to  escort  the  King 
to  his  own  apartments,  but  the  King  would  not  hear  of 
it,  so  they  saluted  once  more  and  separated. 

The  King  remained  a  week  longer  at  the  Vatican, 
then  returned  to  the  Palazzo  di  Venetia.  During  that 
week  everything  that  Charles  had  asked  was  discussed 
and  finally  arranged  to  his  satisfaction.  The  Bishop  of 
Mans  was  made  cardinal ;  the  investiture  of  the  King¬ 
dom  of  Naples  was  promised  to  Charles,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  when  he  left  Rome  the  pope,  in  exchange 
for  a  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  lire,  should  place  in 
his  hands  the  brother  of  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople. 
Alexander  wished  to  be  hospitable  to  the  last,  and 
invited  Djein  to  dinner  on  the  same  day  on  which  he 
and  his  new  patron  were  to  say  farewell  to  Rome. 

When  the  time  fixed  for  his  departure  arrived,  the 
King  mounted  his  horse,  clad  in  full  armor,  and  rode  to 
the  Vatican,  attended  by  a  large  and  brilliant  suite. 
He  alighted  in  front  of  the  great  door,  and  entered  the 
palace  with  some  three  or  four  noblemen  only,  leaving 
his  escort  on  the  Square  of  St.  Peter’s.  He  found  his 
Holiness  awaiting  him  with  Cardinal  Valentino  at  his 
right  and,  at  his  left,  Djein,  who,  as  we  said,  had 
dined  at  his  table.  Thirteen  cardinals  were  standing 
around  the  pope.  The  King,  with  his  knee  on  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


93 


ground,  asked  the  Holy  Father  for  his  blessing,  and  bent 
over  to  kiss  his  feet,  but  Alexander  would  not  permit 
it ;  he  took  him  in  his  arms  and  kissed  him  with  a  show 
of  paternal  affection,  but  with  hatred  at  his  heart.  The 
pope  then  presented  to  the  King  the  son  of  Mahomet  II., 
a  handsome  young  man  of  noble  bearing,  clad  in  a 
superb  oriental  costume,  the  ample  folds  of  which  were 
in  striking  contrast  with  the  scant  and  severely  simple 
garments  worn  by  the  Christians. 

Djein  stepped  forward  to  meet  the  King,  without 
humility,  and  equally  without  arrogance,  as  an  emperor’s 
son  should  greet  a  King,  and  kissed  first  his  hand, 
then  his  shoulder.  Then  he  turned  to  the  pope,  and 
said  to  him  in  Italian,  which  he  spoke  extremely  well, 
that  he  begged  him  to  commend  him  to  the  great  king, 
who  deigned  to  take  him  under  his  protection ;  he  assured 
the  pope  that  he  would  never  have  occasion  to  repent 
having  restored  his  freedom,  and  said  to  Charles  that  he 
hoped  he  would  have  reason  to  be  content  with  him,  if, 
after  taking  Naples,  he  crossed  over  into  Greece  accord¬ 
ing  to  his  present  purpose. 

His  words  were  uttered  with  such  a  dignified  air,  and 
at  the  same  time,  with  such  simplicity  that  the  King  of 
France  extended  his  hand  to  the  young  man  with  a 
frank,  impulsive  movement,  as  to  a  worthy  comrade- 
in-arms. 

The  transfer  having  thus  been  accomplished,  Charles 
took  leave  of  the  pope  for  the  last  time  and  went  down 
into  the  square,  where  he  waited  for  Cardinal  Valentino, 
who,  as  we  have  said,  was  to  accompany  him  as  a 
hostage,  and  had  remained  behind  to  exchange  a  few 
words  with  his  father.  An  instant  later  Csesar  Borgia 
appeared,  mounted  upon  a  superbly  caparisoned  mule, 
and  followed  by  servants  leading  six  magnificent  horses, 


94 


THE  BORGIAS. 


presented  to  the  King  of  France  by  the  Holy  Father. 
Charles  immediately  mounted  one  of  them  to  express 
his  appreciation  of  the  pope’s  gift,  and  left  Rome  at  the 
head  of  his  army  for  Marino,  where  he  arrived  the  same 
evening. 

There  he  learned  tl  at  Alphonso,  belying  his  reputa¬ 
tion  as  an  adroit  politician  and  great  general,  had 
embarked  with  all  his  treasure  upon  a  squadron  of  four 
galleys,  leaving  the  direction  of  the  war  and  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  the  kingdom  to  his  son  Ferdinand.  Thus 
everything  contributed  to  facilitate  Charles’  triumphal 
march  ;  city  gates  flew  open  at  his  approach ;  his  enemies 
fled  without  awaiting  his  coming,  and  he  had  acquired 
the  name  of  “  The  Conqueror,”  before  he  had  fought  a 
single  battle. 

The  next  morning  at  daybreak  the  army  resumed  its 
march,  and  halted  at  Yelletri  in  the  evening,  after  a 
long  day’s  journey.  The  King,  who  had  been  in  the 
saddle  since  morning,  left  Cardinal  Valentino  at  the 
quarters  prepared  for  him,  and  went  on  to  his  own, 
accompanied  by  Djein. 

Csesar  Borgia  had  twenty  heavily  laden  vans  among 
the  impedimenta  of  the  army ;  he  caused  one  of  them  to 
be  opened,  and  a  magnificent  service  of  plate  to  be  taken 
therefrom,  and  ordered  supper  to  be  prepared,  as  he  had 
done  the  evening  before.  Meanwhile  night  had  fallen  ; 
he  shut  himself  up  in  an  out-of-the-way  room,  and 
exchanged  his  cardinal’s  garb  for  the  dress  of  a  groom. 
In  that  disguise  he  left  the  house  set  apart  for  his  accom¬ 
modation,  without  being  recognized,  and  made  his  way 
into  the  open  country.  About  half  a  league  outside  the 
town,  a  servant  was  awaiting  him  with  two  fleet  horses. 
Csesar,  who  was  an  accomplished  horseman,  leaped  into 
the  saddle,  and  he  and  his  companion  set  off  at  full 


THE  BORGIAS. 


95 


speed  for  Rome,  which  they  reached  at  daybreak. 
Caesar  alighted  at  the  abode  of  Signor  Flores,  Auditor 
of  the  Rote,  where  a  fresh  horse  and  suitable  clothes 
were  brought  him ;  he  then  betook  himself  at  once  to 
his  mother’s  house.  She  cried  aloud  for  joy  when  she 
saw  him,  for  the  cardinal  had  maintained  a  mysterious 
silence  to  her,  as  to  everybody  else,  concerning  his  plan 
of  returning  at  once. 

This  demonstration  of  delight  on  the  part  of  the 
Vanozza  was  prompted  less  by  maternal  love  than  by 
her  thirst  for  vengeance.  One  evening  while  Charles 
VIII.  and  Alexander  VI.  were  swearing  an  eternal 
friendship  which  neither  really  felt  in  his  heart,  and 
exchanging  pledges  which  were  broken  in  advance,  a 
messenger  arrived  from  the  Vanozza,  with  a  letter  for 
Csesar,  wherein  she  begged  him  to  come  without  delay 
to  her  house  on  Via  della  Longara.  Caesar  questioned 
the  messenger,  but  could  get  no  other  reply  than  that 
he  would  learn  all  that  he  wished  to  know  from  his 
mother’s  own  lips.  As  soon  as  he  was  at  liberty,  he 
donned  a  layman’s  coat  and,  wrapping  himself  in  an 
ample  cloak,  left  the  Vatican  and  made  the  best  of  his 
way  to  the  Church  of  Regina-Coeli,  which,  as  our 
readers  will  remember,  was  in  close  proximity  to  the 
residence  of  the  pope’s  mistress. 

As  he  approached  the  spot,  Caesar  began  to  notice 
extraordinary  indications  of  havoc  and  devastation. 
The  street  was  strewn  with  debris  of  furniture  and  rags 
of  priceless  stuffs.  When  he  reached  the  foot  of  the 
short  flight  of  steps  leading  to  the  front  door,  he  saw 
that  the  windows  were  shattered  and  the  curtains  in 
tatters  waving  about  in  the  wind.  At  a  loss  to  under¬ 
stand  what  it  all  meant,  he  rushed  inside  and  hurried 
through  several  deserted  and  demoralized  apartments. 


96 


THE  BORGIAS. 


i 


At  last  he  spied  a  light  in  one  room,  and  found  his 
mother  there,  sitting  on  the  shattered  remains  of  an 
ebony  chest  incrusted  with  silver  and  ivory.  When 
Csesar  appeared  she  rose  to  her  feet  with  pale  cheeks 
and  disheveled  hair  and,  waving  her  hand  over  the 
scene  of  desolation,  she  cried : 

“  Behold  the  handiwork  of  your  new  friends,  Csesar !  ” 

“  What  is  the  matter,  mother  ?  what  is  the  meaning 
of  this  disorder?”  the  cardinal  asked. 

“  The  matter  is,”  Vanozza  replied,  grinding  her  teeth 
with  rage,  “  that  the  serpent  you  warmed  has  turned  and 
bitten  me,  fearing,  doubtless,  to  break  his  teeth  upon 
you.” 

“  Who  did  it  ?  ”  cried  Csesar ;  “  tell  me,  mother,  and 
by  the  heaven  above,  I  swear  that  I  will  do  as  much  to 
him  and  more  !  ” 

“  Who  did  it  ?  ”  retorted  Vanozza,  “  who  but  King 
Charles  VIII.,  by  the  hands  of  his  faithful  allies,  the 
Swiss  ?  They  knew  that  Melchiori  was  from  home,  and 
that  I  was  living  here  alone  with  a  few  wretched  menials, 
and  so  they  came,  breaking  in  the  doors  as  if  they  had 
taken  Rome  by  assault,  and  while  Cardinal  Valentino 
was  entertaining  their  master,  they  were  pillaging  his 
mother’s  house,  loading  her  with  such  insults  and  abuse 
as  the  Turks  or  Saracens  themselves  could  not  surpass.” 

“  Enough,  enough,  mother,”  said  Csesar ;  “  never  fear, 
blood  shall  wash  out  the  stain.  Consider  that  what  we 
have  lost  is  as  nothing  compared  to  what  we  might  lose, 
and  my  father  and  I  will  give  back  to  you  more  than 
has  been  taken  from  you.” 

“It  is  not  promises  that  I  demand,”  cried  Vanozza, 
“  but  vengeance.” 

“  And  vengeance  you  shall  have,  mother,  or  I  will 
cease  to  call  myself  your  son.” 


THE  BORGIAS. 


97 


Having  comforted  his  mother  with  this  assurance,  he 
took  her  to  Lucrezia’s  palace,  whose  marriage  to  the 
Lord  of  Pesaro  left  her  no  less  free  than  before,  and  re¬ 
turned  to  the  Vatican,  giving  orders  that  his  mother’s 
house  should  be  refitted  on  a  more  magnificent  scale 
than  before.  These  orders  were  punctually  carried  out, 
and  Caesar  now  found  his  mother  once  more  amid  luxuri¬ 
ous  surroundings,  but  with  bitter  hatred  at  her  heart. 

Hence  the  joyful  cry  with  which  she  welcomed  his 
appearance. 

The  mother  and  son  exchanged  but  a  few  words ;  Cae¬ 
sar  then  remounted  his  horse  and  rode  to  the  Vatican, 
which  he  had  left  as  a  hostage  but  two  days  before. 
Alexander,  who  knew  beforehand  of  his  contemplated 
flight,  and  who  not  only  approved  it,  but,  in  his  capacity 
of  sovereign  pontiff,  absolved  his  son  in  advance  for  the 
perjury  he  was  about  to  commit,  welcomed  him  joyfully, 
but  advised  him  to  go  into  hiding,  as  Charles  VIII.,  in 
all  human  probability,  would  not  be  slow  to  reclaim  his 
hostage. 

The  absence  of  Cardinal  Valentino  at  the  King’s  bed¬ 
side  reception  the  morning  after  their  arrival  at  Velletri 
was  remarked,  and  as  Charles  felt  somewhat  disturbed  at 
his  failure  to  appear,  he  sent  to  learn  why  it  was.  When 
the  messenger  reached  the  lodgings  which  Caesar  left  the 
night  before,  he  was  told  that  he  went  out  about  nine 
o’clock  in  the  evening,  and  had  not  since  been  seen.  He 
returned  with  this  intelligence  to  the  King,  who  at  once 
suspected  that  he  had  taken  flight,  and  in  the  first  out¬ 
burst  of  his  indignation  communicated  his  perfidy  to  the 
whole  army.  The  soldiers  thereupon  remembered  the 
twenty  vans  which  were  so  heavily  laden,  from  one  of 
which  the  cardinal  had  taken  the  magnificent  service  of 
plate,  and,  having  no  doubt  that  the  others  contained  as 
Vol.  II.— 7. 


98 


THE  BORGIAS. 


precious  freight,  they  fell  upon  them,  and  broke  them  in 
pieces;  but  they  found  nothing  within  but  stones  and 
sand.  This  satisfied  the  King  that  the  flight  was  ar¬ 
ranged  long  before,  and  redoubled  his  wrath  against  the 
pope.  Without  loss  of  time  he  despatched  to  Rome 
Philippe  de  Bresse,  afterwards  Duke  of  Savoy,  with 
orders  to  express  to  the  Holy  Father  his  displeasure  at 
being  dealt  with  so  perfidiously. 

But  the  pope  replied  that  he  knew  absolutely  nothing 
about  his  son’s  flight,  and  expressed  his  very  deep  regret 
thereat  to  his  Majesty,  saying  that  he  had  no  idea  where 
he  could  be,  but  that  he  certainly  was  not  at  Rome.  It 
happened  that  the  pope  spoke  the  truth  then,  for  Csesar 
had  withdrawn  with  Cardinal  Orsino  to  one  of  his  estates, 
and  was  in  hiding  there  for  the  moment.  The  reply  was 
conveyed  to  Charles  by  two  messengers  from  the  pope, 
the  Bishops  of  Nepi  and  Sutri.  The  people  too  sent  an 
ambassador  to  the  King  in  the  person  of  Monsignore 
Porcari,  Dean  of  the  Rote,  who  was  instructed  to  express 
the  keen  displeasure  of  the  Romans  when  they  learned 
of  the  cardinal’s  breach  of  parole.  Little  as  Charles  was 
inclined  to  be  content  with  empty  words  he  was  obliged 
to  turn  his  attention  to  more  important  matters,  and  he 
continued  his  march  to  Naples  without  further  delay, 
entering  the  city  on  the  twenty-second  of  February, 
1495. 

Four  days  later  the  hapless  Djein,  who  had  fallen 
sick  at  Capua,  died  at  Castel  Nuovo.  At  the  farewell 
dinner  which  he  gave  him,  Alexander  VI.  experimented 
upon  him  with  the  poison  of  which  he  was  to  make  such 
frequent  use  upon  the  cardinals  in  the  future,  and  of 
which  he  was  destined  finally,  in  just  retribution,  to 
experience  the  effects  himself.  Thus  we  see  how  cleverly 
the  pope  had  arranged  to  kill  two  birds  with  one  stone  : 


THE  BORGIAS. 


99 


in  his  twofold  speculation  on  the  unfortunate  youth  he 
sold  his  life  to  Charles  VIII.  for  a  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  lire,  and  his  death  to  Bajazet  II.  for  three 
hundred  thousand  ducats. 

As  it  happened,  however,  there  was  some  difficulty 
about  this  second  payment ;  for  the  Emperor  of  the 
Turks,  as  the  reader  will  remember,  was  not  to  pay  the 
price  of  his  brother’s  blood  until  the  body  was  delivered 
to  him,  and  the  body,  by  order  of  Charles,  was  interred 
at  Gaeta. 

When  Caesar  Borgia  learned  what  had  happened,  he 
judged,  reasonably  enough,  that  the  King  had  too  many 
things  to  think  about,  in  connection  with  his  installation 
in  his  new  capital,  to  worry  about  him ;  so  he  reappeared 
at  Rome,  and  as  his  mother  did  not  cease  to  urge  him  to 
keep  his  word  to  her,  he  signalized  his  return  by  an  act 
of  vengeance. 

He  had  in  his  pay  a  Spaniard  whom  he  had  raised  to 
the  proud  eminence  of  chief  of  his  bravoes.  He  was  a 
man  of  some  thirty-five  to  forty  years,  whose  whole  life 
had  been  one  long  rebellion  against  all  the  laws  of 
society,  and  he  hesitated  at  nothing,  provided  that  he 
was  paid  fair  value  for  his  services.  This  Don  Michel 
Correglia,  who  acquired  sanguinary  celebrity  under  the 
name  of  Michelotto,  was  just  the  man  for  Caesar’s  present 
purpose ;  for  his  devotion  to  Csesar  was  no  less  absolute 
than  Caesar’s  confidence  in  him.  The  cardinal  entrusted 
one  portion  of  his  vengeance  to  him,  and  reserved  the 
other  portion  for  himself. 

Don  Michel  received  orders  to  scour  the  Roman  Cam- 
pagna,  and  murder  every  Frenchman  he  fell  in  with. 
He  at  once  set  to  work,  and  in  the  course  of  very  few 
days  achieved  most  satisfactory  results.  More  than  a 
hundred  persons  were  robbed  and  murdered,  among 


100 


THE  BORGIAS. 


them  the  son  of  the  Bishop  of  Saint  Malo,  who  was  re¬ 
turning  to  France,  and  upon  whom  Michelotto  found  the 
sum  of  three  thousand  crowns. 

Caesar  marked  out  the  Swiss  for  his  own  prey,  for  they 
it  was  who  had  laid  waste  Vanozza’s  dwelling.  The  pope 
had  in  his  service  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  soldiers  of 
that  nation,  who  had  brought  their  families  to  Rome, 
and  were  growing  rich  upon  their  pay,  eked  out  by  some 
other  employment.  The  cardinal  dismissed  them  all, 
with  orders  to  leave  Rome  within  twenty-four  hours,  and 
Roman  territory  within  three  days.  The  poor  devils 
were  all  assembled  upon  the  Square  of  St.  Peter’s  with 
their  wives  and  children,  and  their  baggage,  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  obeying  the  order,  when  suddenly  they  were 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  two  thousand  Spaniards  who 
began  to  fire  upon  them  with  arquebuses,  and  to  cut 
them  down  with  their  swords,  while  Caesar  and  his  mother 
watched  the  carnage  from  a  window.  Some  fifty  or 
sixty  were  slain  in  this  way,  but  the  others  stood  their 
ground  against  the  cut-throats,  and  retreated  in  good 
order  to  a  house  which  they  barricaded  ;  and  there  they 
defended  themselves  so  gallantly  that  the  pope,  who  did 
not  know  the  author  of  the  butchery,  had  time  to  send 
the  captain  of  his  guards  with  a  strong  detachment,  who 
succeeded  in  getting  them  out  of  the  city  to  the  number 
of  some  forty  or  more  ;  the  rest  were  massacred  on  the 
square,  or  killed  in  the  house. 

But  this  exploit  was  but  a  small  part  of  the  real  ven¬ 
geance  for  which  Csesar  and  his  mother  thirsted,  for  it  did 
not  reach  Charles  VIII.,  who  was  the  real,  and  the  only 
author  of  all  the  tribulation  which  the  pope  and  his 
family  had  been  subjected  to  for  a  year  past.  And  so 
Csesar  soon  abandoned  such  paltry  methods  to  turn  his 
attention  to  matters  of  greater  moment,  and  devoted  all 


THE  BORGIAS. 


101 


his  wits  to  renewing  the  league  of  the  Italian  princes, 
which  was  disrupted  by  the  defection  of  Sforza,  the  exile 
of  Pietro,  and  the  overthrow  of  Alphonso. 

This  undertaking  was  accomplished  with  greater  ease 
than  the  pope  anticipated.  The  Venetians  were  by  no 
means  free  from  concern  at  the  neighborhood  of  the 
French  King,  and  they  trembled  with  apprehension 
that,  when  he  had  once  made  himself  master  of  Naples, 
it  might  occur  to  him  to  conquer  the  rest  of  Italy. 
Ludovico  Sforza,  too,  was  beginning  to  fear,  in  view  of 
the  celerity  with  which  Charles  had  overthrown  the 
House  of  Aragon,  that  he  would  soon  make  no  distinc¬ 
tion  between  his  allies  and  his  enemies.  Outside  of 
Italy,  Maximilian  was  only  waiting  for  a  pretext  to  put 
an  end  to  the  temporary  peace,  to  which  he  had  con¬ 
sented  on  account  of  the  concessions  made  to  him. 
Lastly,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  were  allies  of  the  de¬ 
throned  family. 

Thus  they  were  all  equally  apprehensive,  though  from 
diverse  motives,  and  it  took  them  but  a  short  time  to 
agree  upon  the  necessity  of  driving  Charles  VIII.  out 
of  Italy  altogether,  and  not  merely  out  of  Naples ;  and 
they  bound  themselves  to  use  all  means  in  their  power, 
whether  by  way  of  negotiation,  surprise,  or  actual  force, 
to  bring  about  his  expulsion.  The  Florentines  alone  re¬ 
fused  to  take  part  in  this  waving  of  shields,  and  remained 
faithful  to  their  plighted  word. 

According  to  the  terms  agreed  upon  by  the  confeder¬ 
ates,  the  league  was  to  last  twenty-five  years,  and  its 
ostensible  purpose  was  to  protect  the  supremacy  of  the 
pope,  and  the  interests  of  Christianity ;  indeed,  the  pre¬ 
liminaries  might  easily  have  been  mistaken  for  those  of 
a  crusade  against  the  Turks,  had  not  Bajazet’s  ambassa¬ 
dor  been  present  at  almost  all  of  the  deliberations, 


102 


THE  BORGIAS. 


although  a  sense  of  shame  prevented  the  Christian 
princes  from  making  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople  in 
name  a  party  to  the  league. 

The  confederates  agreed  to  put  on  the  field  an  army 
of  thirty-four  thousand  horse  and  twenty  thousand  foot, 
and  each  one  was  required  to  furnish  his  contingent — 
the  pope,  four  thousand  horse ;  Maximilian,  six  thou¬ 
sand  ;  the  King  of  Spain,  the  Duke  of  Milan  and  the 
Republic  of  Venice,  each  eight  thousand.  In  addition 
to  these,  each  confederate  was  to  raise  and  equip  within 
six  weeks  of  the  execution  of  the  treaty  four  thousand 
foot  soldiers.  Ships  were  to  be  provided  by  the  mari¬ 
time  powers,  but  the  expense  of  their  equipment  and 
maintenance  was  to  fall  equally  upon  all. 

This  league  was  made  public  on  Palm  Sunday,  April 
12, 1495,  throughout  Italy,  and  was  received  with  intense 
satisfaction,  particularly  at  Rome.  Almost  immediately 
after  the  promulgation  of  the  articles  intended  for  the 
public  eye,  the  confederates  began  to  carry  out  the  secret 
articles.  These  secret  articles  bound  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  to  send  to  Ischia,  whither  Alphonso’s  son  had 
fled,  a  fleet  of  sixty  galleys,  with  six  hundred  cavalry 
and  five  thousand  infantry  to  assist  in  putting  him  back 
upon  the  throne.  These  troops  were  to  be  commanded 
by  Gonzalvo  of  Cordova,  who  had  acquired,  by  the  tak¬ 
ing  of  Grenada,  the  reputation  of  being  the  greatest 
general  in  Europe.  On  their  side,  the  Venetians,  with 
a  fleet  of  forty  galleys  under  Antonio  Grimani,  were  to 
attack  all  the  posts  held  by  the  French  on  the  coasts  of 
Calabria  and  Naples.  The  Duke  of  Milan’s  part  was  to 
consist  in  blocking  all  reinforcements  from  France  and 
driving  the  Due  d’Orleans  out  of  Asti.  Maximilian 
undertook  to  harry  the  frontiers  of  France,  and  Bajazet 
to  assist  with  money,  ships,  and  troops,  either  the 


THE  BORGIAS.  103 

Venetians  or  the  Spaniards,  according  as  he  was  appealed 
to  by  Barberigo  or  by  Ferdinand  the  Catholic. 

This  league  was  the  greater  source  of  anxiety  to 
Charles  VIII.  because  the  enthusiasm  which  greeted  his 
advent  had  so  suddenly  died  away.  That  had  happened 
in  his  case  which  ordinarily  happens  to  men  who  have 
more  good  luck  than  genius ;  instead  of  building  up  for 
himself  among  the  great  Neapolitan  and  Calabrian 
feudatories  a  party  whose  roots  would  be  firmly  imbedded 
in  the  soil,  by  confirming  their  privileges  and  increasing 
their  influence,  he  wounded  them  by  bestowing  all  the 
titles,  all  the  offices  and  all  the  fiefs  upon  those  who 
came  with  him  from  France ;  so  that  all  the  lucrative 
and  dignified  posts  in  the  kingdom  were  filled  by 
foreigners. 

The  result  was  that  at  the  very  moment  the  league 
was  made  public,  Tropea  and  Amantea,  which  Charles 
had  given  to  the  Seigneur  de  Precy,  rose  in  revolt,  and 
hoisted  the  banner  of  Aragon ;  that  the  Spanish  fleet 
had  but  to  show  itself  before  Reggio,  in  Calabria,  when 
that  town,  which  was  more  discontented  under  the  new 
regime  than  the  old,  opened  its  gates  to  him  instanter ; 
and  that  Don  Frederic,  Alphonso’s  brother  and  Ferdi¬ 
nand’s  uncle,  who  had  never  left  Brindisi,  had  but  to 
appear  at  the  gates  of  Tarento  to  be  greeted  as  a 
liberator. 

Charles  VIII.  heard  of  all  these  things  at  Naples,  at 
a  time  when  he  had  already  grown  weary  of  the  work 
of  organization  necessitated  by  his  latest  conquest — a 
work  for  which  he  was  entirely  unfitted — and  was  turn¬ 
ing  his  eyes  longingly  toward  France,  where  the  tri¬ 
umphal  reception  of  a  conquering  hero  awaited  him. 
He  yielded  at  once,  therefore,  to  the  first  adviser  who 
suggested  the  advisability  of  retracing  his  steps  to  his 


104 


THE  BORGIAS. 


own  realm,  which  was  threatened,  as  we  have  seen,  by 
the  Germans  in  the  north,  and  by  the  Spaniards  in  the 
south. 

He  appointed  Gilbert  de  Montpensier  of  the  House 
of  Bourbon,  viceroy  ;  D’Aubigny  of  the  Scottish  House 
of  Stuart,  his  lieutenant  in  Calabria;  Etienne  de  V&se, 
commandant  of  Gaeta;  and  Don  Julien,  Gabriel  de 
Montfaucon,  Giullaume  de  Villeneuve,  Georges  de  Silly, 
the  Bailly  de  Vitry,  and  Graziano  Guerra,  governors  of 
San-Angelo,  Maufredonia,  Trani,  Catanzaro,  Aquila, 
and  Sulmone  respectively.  He  left  with  his  representa¬ 
tive  half  of  the  Swiss,  part  of  the  Gascons,  eight 
hundred  French  lances,  and  about  five  hundred  Italian 
men-at-arms,  the  latter  under  the  command  of  the  Prefect 
of  Rome,  Prosper  and  Fabricio  Colonna,  and  Antonio 
Savelli ;  and  on  the  twentieth  of  May,  at  two  o’clock 
in  the  afternoon,  he  marched  out  of  Naples  for  his 
northward  journey  through  the  whole  Italian  peninsula, 
with  the  rest  of  his  army,  which  consisted  of  eight 
hundred  French  lances,  two  hundred  gentlemen  of  his 
guard,  one  hundred  Italian  men-at-arms,  and  three 
thousand  Swiss,  one  thousand  French  and  one  thousand 
Gascon  infantry.  He  counted  upon  being  joined  in 
Tuscany  by  Camillo  Vitelli  and  his  brothers  with  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men-at-arms. 

A  week  prior  to  his  departure  from  Naples,  Charles 
had  sent  Monseigneur  de  Saint-Paul,  brother  of  the 
Cardinal  of  Luxumbourg,  to  Rome  and,  at  the  moment 
of  setting  out,  he  despatched  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons. 
Each  of  them  was  instructed  to  assure  Alexander  that 
the  King  most  sincerely  wished  and  was  firmly  deter¬ 
mined  to  remain  his  friend.  It  was  the  fact  that  Charles 
desired  nothing  so  much  as  to  detach  the  pope  from  the 
league,  with  a  view  of  securing  in  him  a  spiritual  and 


THE  BORGIAS. 


105 


temporal  champion.  But  a  restless,  ambitious,  daring 
young  king  was  not  the  sort  of  neighbor  that  suited 
Alexander;  so  he  refused  to  listen  to  either  of  the 
envoys,  and  as  the  troops  he  had  asked  the  doge  and 
Ludovico  Sforza  to  send  him  were  not  arrived  in  suffi¬ 
cient  numbers  to  defend  Home,  he  contented  himself 
with  provisioning  the  Castle  of  San- Angelo  for  a  siege, 
threw  a  strong  garrison  into  it  and  withdrew  with  Csesar 
to  Orvieto,  leaving  the  Cardinal  of  Saint  Anastasius  to 
receive  the  King. 

Charles  remained  but  three  days  at  Rome,  so  great 
was  his  chagrin  because  Alexander,  notwithstanding  his 
prayers,  had  refused  to  await  his  coming.  During  those 
three  days,  instead  of  hearkening  to  the  advice  of  Giulio 
della  Rovere,  who  urged  him  anew  to  assemble  a  council 
and  depose  the  pope,  he  turned  over  to  the  Romagnese 
officers,  hoping  thereby  to  win  back  the  pope’s  good-will, 
the  citadels  of  Terracena  and  Civita-Vecchia,  retaining 
only  that  of  Ostia,  which  he  had  promised  to  restore  to 
Giulio. 

At  the  end  of  the  three  days  he  left  Rome  and  led 
his  forces  in  three  divisions  toward  Tuscany,  across  the 
States  of  the  Church  and,  on  the  thirteenth,  reached 
Sienna,  where  he  was  met  by  Philippe  de  Commines, 
whom  he  had  previously  sent  on  a  mission  to  the  Republic 
of  Venice.  He  informed  him  that  his  enemies  had 
forty  thousand  men  under  arms  and  were  ready  to  fight 
him.  This  news  had  no  other  effect  than  to  raise  the 
King’s  spirits  and  those  of  the  gentlemen  of  his  army 
beyond  all  measure,  for  their  easy  conquest  had  inspired 
them  with  such  disdain  for  their  foes  that  they  did  not 
believe  that  any  army,  however  numerous  it  might  be, 
would  dare  to  dispute  their  passage. 

Charles  was  forced,  however,  to  be  convinced  to  the 


106 


THE  BORGIAS. 


contrary,  when  he  learned  at  San-Teranzo,  that  his  ad¬ 
vance-guard,  consisting  of  six  hundred  lances  and  fifteen 
hundred  Swiss,  under  Marechal  de  Gie,  upon  reaching 
Fornovo,  were  confronted  by  the  troops  of  the  allies, 
intrenched  at  Guiarola.  The  marshal  at  once  halted 
upon  a  slight  eminence,  and  so  disposed  his  forces  as  to 
make  the  most  of  his  position.  He  then  sent  a  trumpet 
to  the  enemy’s  camp,  to  make  demand  upon  Francesco 
di  Gonzaga,  generalissimo  of  the  confederate  troops,  for 
free  passage  for  the  army  of  his  King,  and  supplies  at  a 
reasonable  price ;  and  he  also  despatched  a  courier  to 
Charles  VIII.  urging  him  to  move  forward  quickly  with 
his  main  body,  as  well  as  the  rear-guard  and  artillery. 

The  confederates  returned  an  evasive  answer,  for  they 
were  hesitating  whether  they  ought  to  avoid  the  possi¬ 
bility  of  compromising  all  the  forces  at  their  disposal  in 
a  single  battle,  or  to  risk  everything  to  gain  everything, 
and  try  to  annihilate  the  King  of  France  and  his  army, 
thus  burying  the  conqueror  in  the  ruins  of  his  conquest. 

Charles  VIII.  was  found  overseeing  the  passage  of  the 
last  of  the  cannon  over  the  summit  of  Pontremoli  Moun¬ 
tain  ;  it  was  by  no  means  an  easy  operation  for,  there 
being  no  marked  path,  they  were  obliged  to  haul  them 
up  and  down  by  hand,  which  required  as  many  as  two 
hundred  men  for  a  single  gun.  When  all  the  artillery 
was  safely  on  the  other  side  of  the  Apennines,  Charles 
set  off  in  hot  haste  for  Fornovo,  and  arrived  there  the 
following  morning. 

From  the  top  of  the  mountain,  on  the  lower  slopes  of 
which  Marechal  de  Gie  was  encamped,  the  King  espied 
his  camp  as  well  as  that  of  the  enemy.  Both  lay  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Taro,  at  either  end  of  the  half  circle 
formed  by  a  chain  of  hills  in  the  shape  of  an  amphi¬ 
theatre.  The  interval  between  the  two  camps,  a  vast 


THE  BORGIAS. 


107 


basin  covered  in  times  of  freshet  by  the  torrent  which 
bounded  it,  was  now  nothing  but  a  gravelly  plain,  upon 
which  it  was  equally  difficult  for  cavalry  and  infantry  to 
manoeuvre.  There  was  also  a  thin  line  of  woods,  which 
followed  the  western  slope  of  the  hills,  from  one  camp  to 
the  other,  and  was  occupied  by  the  Stradiotes,  who,  from 
its  cover,  had  done  some  skirmishing  with  the  French 
troops  during  the  two  days  they  had  lain  in  camp  wait¬ 
ing  for  the  King. 

The  situation  was  not  reassuring.  The  view  from  the 
top  of  the  mountain  overlooking  Fornovo  embraced  both 
camps,  as  we  have  said,  and  it  was  easy  to  estimate  the 
difference  in  numbers  of  the  opposing  forces.  The 
French  army  was  so  reduced  by  the  numerous  garrisons 
they  were  obliged  to  leave  in  towns  and  fortresses  he 
had  kept  possession  of  in  Italy,  that  it  numbered  barely 
eight  thousand  combatants,  while  the  Milanese- Venetian 
army  amounted  to  more  than  thirty -five  thousand. 

Charles  resolved  therefore  to  make  another  trial  of 
conciliatory  measures,  and  sent  Commines,  who,  as  our 
readers  will  remember,  joined  him  in  Tuscany,  to  the  Ven¬ 
etian  officers,  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made  during  his 
mission  to  the  republic,  and  over  whom  he  had  acquired 
great  influence,  because  of  their  justly  high  regard  for 
his  worth.  He  was  instructed  to  say  to  the  commanding 
officers  of  the  enemy’s  forces,  that  his  master  desired 
nothing  more  than  to  continue  his  march  without  giving 
or  receiving  any  offence  ;  that  he  asked  to  be  allowed  to 
pass  unhindered  across  the  fair  plains  of  Lombardy, 
which  lay  spread  out  before  him  farther  than  the  eye 
could  reach,  with  the  snow-clad  Alps  towering  above. 

Commines  found  the  army  of  the  confederates  divided 
in  their  councils  ;  the  Milanese  and  Venetians  were  anx¬ 
ious  to  let  the  King  pass  without  attacking  him,  only  too 


108 


THE  BORGIAS. 


well  pleased,  as  they  said,  to  have  him  leave  Italy  with¬ 
out  doing  any  more  harm  than  he  had  done ;  but  the 
ambassadors  of  Spain  and  Germany  were  of  a  different 
opinion.  As  their  masters  had  no  troops  in  the  army, 
and  whatever  expense  they  were  to  defray  was  already 
incurred,  a  battle  could  not  fail  to  be  advantageous  to 
them  ;  for  if  it  were  won  they  would  reap  all  the  fruits 
of  victory,  and,  if  lost,  they  would  suffer  none  of  the 
disastrous  results  of  defeat.  This  divergence  of  opinion 
caused  them  to  postpone  their  reply  to  Commines  until 
the  following  day ;  and  they  agreed  to  send  a  pleni¬ 
potentiary  then  to  confer  with  him  at  a  point  midway 
between  the  two  armies. 

The  King  passed  the  night  in  great  anxiety ;  the 
skies  had  threatened  rain  throughout  the  day,  and  the 
Taro  overflowed  its  banks  on  such  slight  provocation, 
that  though  it  was  fordable  then,  it  might  become  an 
impassable  obstacle  on  the  morrow ;  and  perhaps  the 
delay  was  intended  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  make 
the  position  of  the  French  army  worse  than  it  was.  As 
it  turned  out,  it  was  hardly  dark  when  a  terrible  storm 
broke  over  their  heads,  and  the  thunder  roared  among 
the  Apennines,  and  the  heavens  were  ablaze  with  light¬ 
ning  all  night  long.  At  daybreak  it  seemed  to  abate  a 
little  ;  but  the  Taro,  which  was  nothing  but  a  brook  the 
night  before,  had  become  a  roaring  torrent  and  was  rap¬ 
idly  rising  to  the  top  of  its  banks. 

At  six  in  the  morning,  the  King,  fully  armed  and 
mounted,  summoned  Commines,  and  ordered  him  to  re¬ 
pair  to  the  rendezvous  appointed  by  the  Venetian  offi¬ 
cers.  But  the  words  were  barely  out  of  his  mouth  when 
a  great  uproar  arose  at  the  extreme  right  of  the  French 
army.  The  Stradiotes,  creeping  along  under  cover  of 
the  woods,  had  surprised  one  of  the  outposts,  and  after 


THE  BORGIAS. 


109 


putting  every  man  to  the  sword  were  riding  off,  each 
man  with  a  head  at  his  saddle-bow,  as  their  custom  was. 
A  detachment  of  cavalry  started  in  pursuit,  but,  like 
wild  beasts,  they  disappeared  in  the  woods  which  were 
their  lurking-place. 

This  unexpected  attack,  which  was  concocted,  doubt¬ 
less,  by  the  German  and  Spanish  ambassadors,  produced 
upon  the  whole  line  the  effect  of  a  spark  upon  a  train 
of  powder.  Commines  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Vene¬ 
tians  officers  on  the  other,  tried  in  vain  to  stem  the  tide ; 
light-armed  troops,  hot  for  the  conflict,  and  listening  to 
nothing  but  the  reckless  incitement  of  personal  bravery, 
a  characteristic  failing  of  the  time,  had  come  to  close 
quarters,  and  were  rushing  down  into  the  plain  as  if  it 
were  a  gladiatorial  arena,  each  one  burning  to  distin¬ 
guish  himself  by  doughty  deeds.  For  a  single  instant 
the  young  King,  carried  away  by  their  example,  was  on 
the  point  of  forgetting  his  responsibility  as  commander- 
in-chief  to  act  the  part  of  a  common  soldier ;  but  the 
Marechal  de  Gi6,  Messire  Claude  de  La  Chatre,  and 
MM.  de  Guise  and  de  Tremouille,  succeeded  in  check¬ 
ing  his  first  impulse,  and  in  inducing  him  to  adopt  the 
wiser  course,  which  was  to  cross  the  Taro,  without  seek¬ 
ing  a  battle,  but  without  avoiding  it,  either,  if  the  enemy 
tried  to  prevent  our  crossing.  Thereupon,  the  King, 
having  listened  to  the  opinions  of  his  wisest  and  most 
gallant  captains,  disposed  his  forces  thus : 

The  first  line  comprised  the  vanguard  of  three  hun¬ 
dred  and  fifty  of  the  flower  of  the  whole  army,  com¬ 
manded  by  the  Marechal  de  Gi6  and  Jacques  Trivulce ; 
and  a  body  of  three  thousand  Swiss  under  Engelbert  de 
Cleves,  and  De  Lornay,  the  Queen’s  first  equerry,  whose 
mission  it  was  to  support  the  van.  Then  came  three 
hundred  archers  of  the  guard,  whom  the  King  had 


110  THE  BORGIAS. 

ordered  to  march  on  foot  that  they  might  support  the 
cavalry  by  fighting  in  the  spaces  between  their  horses. 

The  second  line,  led  by  the  King  in  person,  formed 
the  main  body  of  the  army,  and  comprised  the  artillery 
under  Jean  de  Lagrange,  one  hundred  gentlemen  of  the 
guard,  whose  banner  was  borne  by  Gilles  Carronel,  pen¬ 
sioners  of  the  King’s  household,  commanded  by  Ay  mar 
de  Prie,  the  Scots,  two  hundred  mounted  cross-bow-men, 
and  the  rest  of  the  French  archers,  led  by  M.  de  Crussol. 

The  third  line,  or  rear-guard,  preceded  by  the  impedi¬ 
menta  upon  six  thousand  beasts  of  burden,  numbered 
but  three  hundred  men-at-arms,  commanded  by  MM.  de 
Guise  and  de  Tremouille ;  it  was  the  weakest  part  of  the 
army. 

When  all  was  in  readiness  Charles  ordered  the  van¬ 
guard  to  cross  the  river,  which  it  proceeded  to  do  at 
once,  opposite  the  little  town  of  Fornovo,  the  horsemen 
being  in  water  to  their  calves,  and  the  foot  soldiers  hold¬ 
ing  to  the  horses’  tails.  When  the  last  man  of  the  first 
division  had  reached  the  other  bank,  he  put  his  own 
division  in  motion  to  cross  by  the  same  ford,  giving 
orders  to  MM.  de  Guise  and  de  Tremouille,  to  time  their 
crossing  by  that  of  the  main  body,  as  he  had  timed  his 
by  that  of  the  vanguard. 

His  orders  were  punctually  followed,  and  about  ten  in 
the  morning  the  whole  French  army  stood  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Taro ;  as  the  tactics  pursued  by  the  enemy 
at  this  time  made  an  immediate  engagement  imminent, 
the  baggage-train,  under  the  escort  of  Captain  Odet  de 
Riberac,  drew  away  from  the  rear-guard,  and  took  up  a 
position  on  the  extreme  left. 

Francesco  di  Gonzaga,  commander-in-chief  of  the 
allied  troops,  had  made  his  dispositions  to  correspond 
with  those  of  the  King  of  France ;  by  his  orders,  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Ill 


Count  of  Cajazzo,  with  four  hundred  men-at-arms  and 
two  thousand  infantry,  crossed  the  Taro  opposite  the 
camp  of  the  Venetians  to  confront  the  French  van¬ 
guard,  while  he  himself  ascended  the  right  bank  to 
Fornovo  and  crossed  the  river  by  the  same  ford  which 
the  French  army  had  taken,  in  order  to  fall  upon  its 
rear.  Lastly,  he  stationed  the  Stradiotes  half  way 
between  the  two  fords,  with  orders  to  cross  in  their  turn 
and  attack  the  French  in  flank,  as  soon  as  they  saw 
that  their  van  and  rear  were  engaged.  In  addition  to 
these  offensive  measures,  Gonzaga  had  taken  care  to 
make  provision  for  covering  a  possible  retreat  by  leaving 
three  reserve  corps  on  the  other  bank,  one  commanded 
by  the  Venetian  proveditori  to  guard  the  camp,  and  two 
others  under  Antonio  di  Montefeltro  and  Annibal 
Bentivoglio,  drawn  up  in  such  manner  as  to  support 
each  other. 

Charles  VIII.  took  careful  note  of  all  these  disposi¬ 
tions,  and  recognized  in  them  the  traces  of  that  skill  in 
the  art  of  strategic  warfare  which  made  the  Italian 
generals  the  greatest  tacticians  in  the  whole  world.  As 
there  was  no  way  of  avoiding  the  danger,  however,  he 
determined  to  meet  it  with  a  bold  face,  and  gave  orders 
that  the  march  of  the  army  should  not  be  interrupted. 
They  soon  found  themselves  hemmed  in  between  the 
Count  of  Cajazzo,  who  blocked  their  path  with  his  four 
hundred  men-at-arms  and  two  thousand  infantry,  and 
Gonzaga,  who  was  close  upon  the  heels  of  the  rear¬ 
guard  with  six  hundred  men-at-arms,  the  flower  of  his 
army,  a  squad  of  Stradiotes,  and  more  than  five  thousand 
infantry ;  his  division  alone  was  more  numerous  than 
the  whole  French  army. 

When  MM.  de  Guise  and  de  Tremouille  found  them¬ 
selves  so  closely  beset,  they  ordered  their  two  hundred 


112 


i 


THE  BORGIAS. 


men-at-arms  to  face  about,  while  MM.  de  Gie  and 
Trivulce  at  the  other  end,  that  is  to  say  the  head  of 
the  army,  ordered  a  halt,  and  gave  the  word  to  put 
lances  in  rest.  Meanwhile,  in  accordance  with  custom, 
the  King,  stationed  in  the  centre  of  his  host,  knighted 
those  gentlemen  who,  by  reason  of  their  personal 
gallantry,  or  of  his  regard  for  them,  were  deemed  worthy 
of  the  honor. 

Suddenly  there  was  a  terrible  crash  behind  him ;  it 
was  the  French  rear  coming  to  close  quarters  with  the 
Marquis  of  Mantua.  In  that  onset  every  man  selected 
his  opponent  as  in  a  tourney,  and  a  great  many  lances 
were  broken,  especially  in  the  hands  of  the  Italian 
knights,  for  their  lances  were  hollow  in  order  to  save 
weight,  and  were  consequently  much  more  easily  broken. 
Those  who  were  disarmed  at  once  drew  their  swords, 
and  as  they  were  vastly  more  numerous  than  our  troops, 
they  soon  overwhelmed  our  right  wing  before  the  King’s 
eyes  and  seemed  in  a  fair  way  to  envelop  us  altogether. 
At  the  same  time  there  was  a  tremendous  outcry 
directly  abreast  of  our  centre,  caused  by  the  Stradiotes 
crossing  the  river  to  execute  the  part  allotted  to  them 
in  the  program. 

The  King  at  once  divided  his  main  body  into  two 
detachments  and  placing  one  under  the  command  of  the 
Bastard  of  Bourbon  to  repel  the  assault  of  the  Stradiotes, 
he  himself  hurried  with  the  other  to  the  relief  of  the 
rear-guard.  He  rushed  into  the  thickest  of  the  melee, 
striking  with  the  bearing  of  a  king,  but  fighting  like 
the  most  impetuous  and  daring  of  his  captains.  With 
the  relief  thus  afforded  them  the  rear-guard  stood  their 
ground,  although  the  enemy  were  five  to  one  and  the 
battle,  at  that  point,  was  maintained  with  extraordinary 
fury. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


113 


Following  out  his  orders,  the  Bastard  of  Bourbon  set 
out  at  the  double-quick  to  intercept  the  Stradiotes ; 
but  his  horse  ran  with  him  and  carried  him  so  far  into 
their  ranks  that  he  was  lost  to  sight  there.  The  loss  of 
their  leader,  in  conjunction  with  the  strange  costume  of 
their  new  antagonists  and  their  peculiar  method  of 
fighting,  produced  some  impression  upon  those  who  were 
sent  to  oppose  them,  so  that  for  a  moment  there  were 
signs  of  disorder  about  their  centre,  and  the  horsemen 
scattered,  instead  of  pressing  close  together  and  fighting 
in  a  solid  mass.  This  momentary  confusion  might  well 
have  proved  fatal  to  them,  had  not  the  Stradiotes,  or 
the  greater  part  of  them,  seeing  the  baggage-train  stand¬ 
ing  alone  and  undefended,  made  a  rush  for  that,  in  the 
hope  of  rich  booty,  instead  of  following  up  their  advan¬ 
tage.  However,  a  portion  of  them  remained  to  be 
reckoned  with,  and  pressed  the  French  cavalry  hard, 
cutting  their  lances  through  with  their  terrible  scimiters. 

Fortunately  the  King,  having  repulsed  the  attack  of 
the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  could  give  his  attention  to  what 
was  going  on  behind  him  ;  galloping  back  at  full  speed 
to  the  relief  of  his  centre,  he  fell  upon  the  Stradiotes 
with  the  gentlemen  of  his  household,  no  longer  armed 
with  his  lance,  for  it  was  broken,  but  with  his  long 
sword,  which  gleamed  around  him,  now  on  this  side, 
now  on  that,  like  flashes  of  lightning.  Whether  he  was 
carried  away  by  his  horse,  or  allowed  his  excitement  to 
get  the  better  of  him,  he  found  himself  suddenly  where 
the  Stradiotes  were  thickest,  accompanied  only  by  eight 
of  the  gentlemen  whom  he  had  just  knighted,  one  of 
his  squires  named  Antoine  des  Ambus,  and  his  standard 
bearer.  He  shouted  “  France  !  France !  ”  at  the  top  of 
his  voice,  to  summon  to  his  side  all  the  scattered  horse¬ 
men,  who,  seeing  that  the  danger  was  not  so  great  as 


I 

114  THE  BORGIAS. 

they  thought,  were  beginning  to  take  their  revenge,  and 
to  repay  the  Stradiotes  with  interest  the  blows  they 
received. 

Affairs  were  progressing  still  more  favorably  with  the 
vanguard,  which  was  attacked  by  the  Count  of  Cajazzo. 
Although  he  commanded  a  division  much  superior  in 
number  to  the  French,  and  seemed  at  first  to  be  seriously 
bent  upon  mischief,  he  stopped  short  in  the  act  of  charg¬ 
ing  when  within  ten  or  twelve  paces  of  our  line  of 
battle,  and  executed  a  volte-face  without  breaking  a 
lance.  The  French  were  eager  to  pursue  him,  but  the 
Marechal  de  Gie,  fearing  that  the  retreat  was  nothing 
more  than  a  trap  to  draw  the  van  away  from  the  centre, 
ordered  every  man  to  keep  his  place.  The  German 
Swiss,  however,  not  understanding  the  order,  or  not 
taking  it  to  be  meant  for  them,  darted  in  pursuit  and, 
although  they  were  on  foot,  overtook  the  fugitives  and 
cut  down  a  hundred  or  more  ;  this  was  enough  to  throw 
the  rest  of  them  into  such  confusion  that  some  of  them 
scattered  about  over  the  plain,  and  others  threw  them¬ 
selves  into  the  river  to  swim  across  to  their  camp. 

Thereupon  De  Gie  detailed  a  hundred  men-at-arms  to 
go  back  to  the  assistance  of  the  King,  who  was  still 
fighting  on  with  incredible  daring,  and  incurring  most 
tremendous  risks,  separated  as  he  constantly  was  from  his 
gentlemen,  who  found  it  impossible  to  follow  him ;  for 
he  rushed  headlong  wherever  there  was  danger,  crying 
“  France  !  ”  and  caring  but  little  whether  anybody  fol¬ 
lowed  him  or  not.  He  was  no  longer  fighting  with  his 
sword,  which  was  long  since  broken  like  his  lance,  but 
with  a  heavy  battle-axe,  every  blow  of  which  was  fatal, 
whether  he  cut  with  the  edge  or  thrust  with  the  point. 
The  Stradiotes,  already  hard  pressed  by  the  King’s 
household  and  pensioners,  passed  soon  from  offensive  to 


THE  BORGIAS. 


115 


defensive  operations,  and  from  the  latter  to  flight. 
This  was  the  moment  when  the  king  was  in  the 
greatest  danger;  for,  having  yielded  to  his  impulse  to 
pursue  the  fugitives,  he  soon  found  himself  quite  alone, 
and  entirely  surrounded  by  these  men,  who,  had  they 
been  less  panic-stricken,  would  have  needed  only  to 
close  in  on  him  to  crush  him  and  his  horse  to  death. 
But,  as  Commines  said,  “  He  is  well  guarded  whom  God 
guards,” — and  God  guarded  the  King  of  France  that  day. 

The  rear-guard  was  in  serious  trouble  at  this  time, 
and  although  MM.  de  Guise  and  de  Tremouille  stood 
their  ground  as  staunchly  as  it  was  possible  to  do,  it  is 
probable  that  they  would  have  been  forced  at  last  to 
yield  to  superior  numbers  if  succor  had  not  arrived  from 
two  different  quarters.  In  the  first  place,  the  indefati¬ 
gable  Charles,  having  no  farther  business  with  the 
fugitives,  threw  himself  once  more  into  the  thick  of  the 
battle ;  and  secondly,  the  servants  in  charge  of  the 
baggage,  being  delivered  from  the  Stradiotes,  came  run¬ 
ning  up,  armed  with  the  axes  which  they  used  to  cut 
wood  for  camping  purposes,  and  rushed  into  the  mel6e, 
hamstringing  the  horses,  and  demolishing  the  visors  of 
dismounted  horsemen. 

The  Italians  could  not  withstand  this  twofold  onset ; 
the  “  French  madness  ”  rendered  all  possible  strategic 
combinations  of  no  avail,  and  for  nearly  a  century  they 
had  been  unlearning  what  they  knew  of  these  fierce, 
bloody  conflicts,  and  accustoming  themselves  to  the  sort 
of  tournament  which  they  called  war ;  so  that,  despite 
the  utmost  efforts  of  Francesco  de  Gonzaga,  the  assail¬ 
ants  of  the  rear-guard  also  turned  their  backs  and  took 
to  flight,  recrossing  in  great  haste  and  with  much  diffi¬ 
culty  the  torrent,  swollen  more  and  more  by  the  rain 
which  fell  steadily  throughout  the  battle. 


116 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Some  were  in  favor  of  pursuing  the  enemy,  for  their 
army  was  in  such  utter  confusion  that  they  could  be 
seen  from  the  battlefield,  where  the  French  had  won 
such  a  glorious  victory,  flying  in  all  directions  and 
thronging  the  roads  to  Parma  and  Bercetto.  But  Mare- 
chal  de  Gie  and  MM.  de  Guise  and  de  Tremouille,  who 
had  borne  themselves  too  gallantly  to  be  suspected  of 
shrinking  from  an  imaginary  danger,  restrained  this 
impulse,  reminding  the  too  eager  ones  that  men  and 
horses  were  so  fatigued  that  they  would  run  great  risk 
of  losing  what  advantage  they  had  gained  if  they 
attempted  to  carry  it  any  farther.  Their  opinion  pre¬ 
vailed  in  spite  of  the  arguments  of  Trivulce,  Camillo 
Vitelli,  and  Francesco  Secci,  who  were  in  favor  of  fol¬ 
lowing  up  the  victory. 

The  King  retired  to  a  small  village  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Taro,  and  took  up  his  quarters  in  a  poor  house, 
where  he  laid  aside  his  armor ;  of  all  the  army,  officers 
and  soldiers,  he  had  done  the  best  and  hardest  fighting. 

During  the  night  the  river  became  so  swollen  that  the 
Italian  army  would  have  been  unable  to  follow  up  their 
foes,  even  had  they  recovered  from  their  panic.  The 
King,  after  such  a  victory,  did  not  wish  even  to  have 
the  appearance  of  retreating,  and  remained  all  day 
drawn  up  in  order  of  battle ;  at  sunset  he  went  into 
quarters  at  Medesena,  a  small  village  about  a  mile  farther 
down  stream  than  the  hamlet  in  which  he  passed  the 
first  night  after  the  battle.  But  before  morning  he 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  he  had  done  enough  to 
ensure  the  honor  of  his  arms,  in  whipping  an  army  four 
times  as  large  as  his,  killing  three  thousand  men,  and 
waiting  a  day  and  a  half  to  give  them  time  to  take  their 
revenge ;  and  so,  about  two  hours  before  dawn,  he 


THE  BORGIAS. 


117 


ordered  the  fires  to  be  replenished,  so  that  the  enemy- 
might  think  him  still  in  camp,  and  the  whole  army,  now 
almost  entirely  out  of  danger,  moved  noiselessly  away 
in  the  direction  of  Bergo-San  Donnino. 

Meanwhile  the  pope  had  returned  to  Rome,  where  he 
was  soon  made  happy  by  the  receipt  of  intelligence 
which  was  in  perfect  accord  with  the  policy  he  was 
pursuing.  He  learned  that  Ferdinand  of  Naples  had 
crossed  over  from  Sicily  to  Calabria  with  six  thousand 
volunteers  and  a  considerable  force  of  horse  and  foot, 
sent  to  him  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  under  the  com¬ 
mand  of  the  noted  Gonzalvo  of  Cordova,  who  arrived 
in  Italy  with  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  greatest 
of  generals — a  reputation  which  was  destined  to  be 
somewhat  diminished  by  the  defeat  of  Seminara.  Almost 
at  the  same  time  the  French  fleet  was  beaten  by  the 
Aragonese  fleet,  and  even  the  battle  of  the  Taro,  though 
it  was  lost  by  the  allies,  was  really  a  victory  for  the 
pope,  since  it  resulted  in  leaving  the  path  clear  for  the 
man  whom  he  looked  upon  as  his  most  dangerous  foe  to 
return  to  France. 

Strong  in  the  conviction  that  he  had  nothing  more  to 
fear  from  Charles,  the  pope  sent  to  him  at  Turin,  where 
he  had  halted  for  a  brief  space  to  relieve  Novara,  a 
letter  wherein  he  ordered  him,  by  virtue  of  his  authority 
as  supreme  pontiff,  to  leave  Italy  with  his  army  and  to 
recall  the  troops  he  had  left  in  the  Kingdom  of  Naples, 
and  to  do  both  within  ten  days,  under  pain  of  excom¬ 
munication  and  of  being  summoned  to  appear  before 
him  in  person. 

Charles  replied : 

1st.  That  he  failed  to  understand  how  it  could  be  that 
the  pope,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  league,  should 
order  him  out  of  Italy,  while  the  troops  of  the  league 


118 


THE  BORGIAS. 


not  only  refused  to  allow  him  to  pass,  but  had  even  at¬ 
tempted  (although  in  vain,  as  perhaps  his  Holiness 
might  have  heard)  to  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  re¬ 
turn  to  France. 

2d.  That,  with  regard  to  recalling  his  troops  from 
Naples,  he  could  not  be  so  blind  to  his  religious  obliga¬ 
tions  as  to  do  that,  inasmuch  as  they  entered  that  king¬ 
dom  with  the  consent  and  blessing  of  his  Holiness. 

3d.  That,  with  regard  to  his  being  summoned  to  ap¬ 
pear  in  person  in  the  capital  of  the  Christian  world,  he 
was  astonished  beyond  measure  that  the  pope  should 
require  it  at  that  time,  in  view  of  the  fact  that,  only  six 
weeks  before,  on  his  return  from  Naples,  when  he  was  most 
desirous  to  have  an  interview  with  his  Holiness  in  order 
to  pay  his  respects  to  him  and  demonstrate  his  true  alle¬ 
giance,  his  Holiness,  instead  of  granting  the  favor  he 
requested,  had  quitted  Rome  at  his  approach,  with  such 
precipitation,  that,  do  what  he  would,  he  was  unable  to 
overtake  him.  However,  he  would  give  his  Holiness 
his  word,  if  he  would  agree  to  await  his  coming, 
to  return  to  Rome  as  soon  as  the  business  which  re¬ 
quired  his  return  to  France  should  be  satisfactorily  con¬ 
cluded. 

Notwithstanding  the  tone  of  haughty  raillery  which 
characterized  this  response,  Charles  was  soon  compelled 
by  force  of  circumstances  to  comply  in  part  with  the 
pope’s  missive.  Although  he  received  a  reinforcement 
of  Swiss,  his  presence  in  France  was  so  urgently  de¬ 
manded  that  he  had  no  choice  but  to  conclude  a  treaty 
with  Ludovico  Sforza,  whereby  he  ceded  Novara  to  him. 
Gilbert  de  Montpensier,  too,  and  D’Aubigny,  after  stub¬ 
bornly  contesting  every  foot  of  Calabria,  Basilicata  and 
Naples,  were  finally  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  signing 
the  capitulation  of  Atella,  after  a  siege  of  thirty-two 


THE  BORGIAS. 


119 


days,  on  July  20,  1496.  The  terms  provided  that  all 
the  fortresses  and  towns  in  his  kingdom  then  held  by 
the  French  should  be  restored  to  Ferdinand  II.,  King 
of  Naples.  But  he  lived  only  three  months  to  enjoy 
them ;  on  the  seventh  of  September  following,  he  died 
of  physical  collapse  at  the  Castle  of  Somma  by  the  foot 
of  Vesuvius,  the  assiduous,  loving  care  lavished  upon 
him  by  his  young  wife,  failing  to  repair  the  ravages 
caused  by  her  claims. 

He  was  succeeded  by  his  uncle  Frederic.  Thus,  dur¬ 
ing  the  three  years  since  his  elevation  to  the  pontificate, 
and  wThile  he  was  establishing  himself  more  and  more 
firmly  in  his  seat,  Alexander  had  seen  five  kings  upon 
the  throne  of  Naples : — Ferdinand  I.,  Alphonso  II., 
Charles  VIII.,  Ferdinand  II.,  and  Frederic. 

Each  of  these  convulsions,  and  the  rapid  succession 
of  sovereigns  was  of  the  greatest  possible  advantage  to 
Alexander  VI.,  for  every  new  king  was  not  really 
king,  until  he  in  his  turn  was  invested  with  kingly 
power  by  the  pope.  The  result  was  that  he  was  the 
only  one  who  gained  in  power  and  influence  by  all  these 
changes,  for  not  only  had  he  been  recognized  as  the 
supreme  head  of  the  Church,  for  all  his  simony,  by  the 
Duke  of  Milan,  and  the  Republics  of  Florence  and 
Venice,  which  had  made  treaties  with  him,  but  five 
kings  who  had  succeeded  each  other  upon  the  throne 
of  Naples,  had  severally  done  homage  to  him. 

He  believed,  therefore,  that  the  time  had  come  to 
establish  the  power  of  his  family  upon  a  firm  founda¬ 
tion,  by  clothing  the  Duke  of  Gandia  with  all  the  chief 
temporal  dignities,  while  all  the  great  spiritual  functions 
should  be  entrusted  to  Csesar  Borgia.  He  ensured  the 
success  of  his  new  schemes  by  appointing  four  Spanish 
cardinals,  who  increased  the  number  of  his  compatriots 


120 


THE  BORGIAS. 


in  the  Sacred  College  to  twenty-two,  and  thus  gave  him 
a  constant  and  sure  majority. 

The  first  essential  step  toward  carrying  out  his  policy 
was  to  free  the  neighborhood  of  Rome  from  the  swarm 
of  petty  dignitaries  who  were  called  the  vicars  of  the 
Church,  but  whom  Alexander  named  the  “  manacles  of 
the  papacy.”  We  have  already  seen  that  he  had  set 
about  that  work  by  instigating  the  Orsini  against  the 
Colonnas,  when  the  enterprise  of  Charles  VIII.  com¬ 
pelled  him  to  employ  all  the  force  of  his  intellect  and 
all  his  material  resources  to  protect  and  ensure  his  own 
safety. 

But  the  Orsini,  the  pope’s  former  friends,  were  rash 
enough  to  accept  the  pay  of  the  French,  and  with  them 
entered  Neapolitan  territory,  where  Virginio,  one  of  the 
most  prominent  of  the  leading  men  of  that  powerful 
family,  was  taken  prisoner  during  the  war,  and  was  now 
in  the  hands  of  Ferdinand  II.  Here  was  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  which  Alexander  was  too  shrewd  to  let  slip ;  he 
first  enjoined  upon  the  King  of  Naples  not  to  release  his 
prisoner,  whom  he  had  declared  an  outlaw  on  the  first 
of  June  preceding ;  and  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  October, 
in  the  early  days  of  the  reign  of  Frederic  (whom  he 
knew  to  be  entirely  submissive  to  him,  because  his  power 
was  incomplete  until  he  received  the  papal  investiture), 
he  pronounced  in  secret  consistory  sentence  of  confisca¬ 
tion  against  Virginio  Orsino  and  all  his  family.  There¬ 
upon,  as  if  it  were  not  enough  to  declare  their  property 
confiscated,  but  they  must  be  actually  ousted,  he  made 
overtures  to  the  Colonnas,  and  said  to  them,  that,  as  a 
proof  of  the  return  of  his  esteem,  he  entrusted  to  them, 
under  the  supervision  of  his  son  Francesco,  Duke  of 
Gandia,  the  execution  of  the  sentence  against  their  old 
enemies;  in  this  way  he  weakened  his  troublesome 


THE  BORGIAS. 


121 


neighbors  by  setting  them  at  each  others’  throats,  until 
such  time  as  he  could  safely  attack  and  annihilate  both 
victors  and  vanquished. 

The  Colonnas  accepted  the  proposition,  and  the  Duke 
of  Gandia  was  appointed  vicar-general  of  the  Church, 
being  presented  with  the  insignia  of  the  office  in  the 
cathedral  of  St.  Peter’s  at  Rome,  by  his  father  in  full 
pontifical  robes. 

Matters  progressed  at  first  as  Alexander  desired,  and 
before  the  end  of  the  year  the  papal  army  was  in  pos¬ 
session  of  a  large  number  of  castles  and  fortresses 
belonging  to  the  Orsini.  They  had  come  to  look  upon 
themselves  as  doomed  to  extinction,  when  Charles  VIII., 
to  whom  they  had  appealed,  with  but  little  hope  that  he 
could  give  them  much  assistance,  being  so  engrossed  with 
his  own  affairs,  sent  to  them,  instead  of  troops  and  muni¬ 
tions,  Charles  Orsino,  son  of  Virginio,  who  was  his  pris¬ 
oner,  and  Vitellozo  Vitelli,  brother  of  Camillo  Vitelli, 
one  of  the  three  gallant  Italian  condottieri,  who  entered 
his  service,  and  fought  on  his  side  at  the  fords  of  the 
Taro.  These  two  officers,  of  approved  and  well-known 
courage  and  ability,  brought  with  them  a  considerable 
sum  of  money,  generously  provided  by  Charles ;  and  no 
sooner  had  they  arrived  at  Citta  di  Castello,  the  centre 
of  their  little  dominion,  and  made  known  their  purpose 
of  raising  a  body  of  troops,  than  men  flocked  from  all 
directions  to  enlist  under  their  banner.  They  soon  col¬ 
lected  a  small-sized  army,  and  in  organizing  it  and 
equipping  it,  put  to  profit  what  they  had  learned,  during 
their  stay  in  France,  by  a  careful  study  of  those  matters 
in  which  the  French  methods  of  military  organization 
excelled  the  Italian.  It  consisted  principally  in  certain 
changes  in  the  artillery  trains,  which  tended  to  facilitate 
their  manoeuvres,  and  in  the  substitution  of  pikes  shaped 


122 


THE  BORGIAS. 


like  those  of  the  Swiss,  hut  two  feet  longer,  for  their  or¬ 
dinary  weapons.  Vitellozo  Yitelli  drilled  his  men  in  the 
use  of  their  new  weapons  for  three  or  four  months  ;  when 
he  considered  them  qualified  to  make  good  use  of  them 
he  marched  on  Bracciano,  his  force  being  augmented  by 
some  few  troops  from  the  towns  of  Perouse,  Todi,  and 
Narni,  which  feared  that  their  turn  might  come  after 
the  Orsini  were  wiped  out. 

The  Duke  of  Urbino,  who  had  been  loaned  to  the 
pope  by  Venice,  under  the  terms  of  the  treaty  to  which 
we  have  referred,  was  besieging  Bracciano ;  when  he 
heard  of  Vitelli’s  approach  he  thought  he  would  save 
him  part  of  the  journey  and  marched  out  to  meet  him. 
The  armies  met  on  the  road  to  Soriano,  and  engaged  in¬ 
stantly.  The  papal  army  comprised  a  force  of  eight 
hundred  Germans,  upon  whom  the  Dukes  of  Urbino 
and  Gandia  particularly  relied,  and  with  good  reason, 
for  they  were  the  best  troops  in  the  world ;  but  Vitelli 
set  his  infantry  upon  this  picked  body,  and  they  ran 
them  through  with  their  long  pikes  without  giving  them 
a  chance,  their  weapons  being  four  feet  shorter,  to  return 
the  blows  they  received.  At  the  same  time  his  light  ar¬ 
tillery  hovered  about  the  flanks  of  the  army,  following 
its  most  rapid  movements,  and  silencing  its  guns  by  the 
justness  and  accuracy  of  their  fire.  Thus  it  was  that, 
after  a  somewhat  longer  resistance  than  might  have 
been  expected  from  a  force  attacked  by  such  superior 
tactics,  the  papal  troops  turned  and  fled,  carrying  with 
them  to  Roncilione  the  Duke  of  Gandia  with  a  severe 
pike  wound  in  the  face,  Fabricio  Colonna,  and  the  pope’s 
legate  ;  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  who  was  fighting  with  the 
rear-guard  to  protect  the  retreat,  was  taken  with  all  the 
artillery  and  baggage. 

But  this  success,  great  as  it  was,  did  not  turn  Vitelli’s 


THE  BORGIAS. 


123 


head  so  far  as  to  blind  him  to  the  dangers  of  his  posi¬ 
tion  ;  he  realized  that  he  and  the  Orsini  were  too  weak 
to  carry  on  such  a  war,  that  the  paltry  store  to  which  he 
owed  his  army  would  soon  be  exhausted,  and  that  his 
army  would  disappear  with  it.  He  made  haste  to 
apologize  for  his  victory  by  suggesting  terms,  which  he 
would  not  perhaps  have  been  willing  to  accept  had  he 
been  beaten.  They  were  at  once  communicated  to  the 
pope  who,  in  the  interim,  had  been  advised  that  Trivulce 
had  recrossed  the  Alps  with  three  thousand  Swiss,  and 
who  feared  that  Vitelli’s  force  might  be  the  advance- 
guard  of  the  French  army.  It  was  agreed,  therefore, 
that  the  Orsini  should  pay  seventy  thousand  florins  to 
defray  the  cost  of  the  war,  and  that  all  prisoners  on 
both  sides  should  be  exchanged  without  ransom,  except 
the  Duke  of  Urbino.  To  secure  the  payment  of  the 
seventy  thousand  florins  the  Orsini  placed  the  fortresses 
of  Anguillara  and  Cervetri  in  the  hands  of  Cardinals 
Sforza  and  San  Severino  by  way  of  pledge ;  and  as  they 
had  not  the  necessary  funds  at  hand  on  the  day  fixed 
for  the  payment,  they  fixed  the  ransom  of  the  Duke  of 
Urbino  at  forty  thousand  ducats,  and  passed  that  sum 
to  the  credit  of  Alexander  VI.,  thus  nearly  balancing 
the  account.  The  pope  kept  very  strictly  to  his  agree¬ 
ment  on  this  occasion,  and  made  his  own  general,  cap¬ 
tured  in  his  service,  pay  the  ransom  demanded  by  his 
enemies. 

The  pope,  on  his  side,  restored  to  Charles  Orsino  and 
Vitelli,  the  dead  body  of  Virginio,  in  default  of  his  liv¬ 
ing  body.  By  a  strange  fatality,  the  prisoner  died,  a 
week  before  the  treaty  was  signed,  of  the  same  disease, 
if  we  may  judge  by  analogy,  which  carried  off  Bajazet’s 
brother. 

Just  after  the  signatures  were  appended  to  this  treaty, 


124 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Prosper  Colonna  and  Gonzalvo  of  Cordova,  whom  the 
pope  had  asked  Frederic  to  send  him,  arrived  at  Rome 
with  a  force  of  Spanish  and  Neapolitan  troops.  Alex¬ 
ander  could  not  then  use  them  against  the  Orsini,  and 
was  unwilling  to  have  to  reproach  himself  for  having 
sent  for  them  for  nothing,  so  he  employed  them  in  retak¬ 
ing  Ostia.  Gonzalvo  was  rewarded  for  this  feat  of  arms 
by  receiving  from  the  pope’s  own  hands,  the  Golden 
Rose,  the  greatest  distinction  which  his  Holiness  could 
bestow.  He  shared  the  honor  with  the  Emperor  Maxi¬ 
milian,  the  King  of  France,  the  Doge  of  Venice  and 
the  Duke  of  Mantua. 

Meanwhile  the  festival  of  the  Assumption  arrived, 
and  Gonzalvo  was  invited  to  take  part  in  the  celebra¬ 
tion.  He  rode  from  his  palace  in  regal  state  to  meet 
the  papal  cavalcade,  and  took  his  place  at  the  left  of  the 
Duke  of  Gandia,  whose  great  personal  beauty  drew  all 
eyes  upon  him,  enhanced  and  set  off  as  it  was  by  the 
magnificent  costume  he  had  chosen  to  assume  for  this 
solemn  function. 

He  had  a  retinue  of  pages  and  valets,  dressed  in  liv¬ 
eries  of  such  splendor  that  nothing  comparable  to  them 
had  ever  before  been  seen  even  in  Rome,  the  city  of 
gorgeous  religious  fetes.  They  were  all  mounted  upon 
beautiful  horses,  covered  with  velvet  trappings,  fringed 
with  silver,  on  which,  at  equal  intervals,  were  little  sil¬ 
ver  bells.  He  was  arrayed  himself  in  a  robe  of  gold 
brocade ;  around  his  neck  was  a  string  of  the  largest 
and  finest  Oriental  pearls  which  ever  belonged  to  a 
Christian  prince,  and  around  his  cap  a  golden  chain, 
hung  with  diamonds,  of  which  the  smallest  was  worth 
more  than  twenty  thousand  ducats. 

His  magnificence  was  the  more  striking  because  of  the 
contrast  presented  by  the  simple  costume  of  Csesar 


THE  BORGIAS. 


125 


Borgia,  whose  purple  robe  could  boast  no  ornament. 
The  result  was  that  Caesar,  already  madly  jealous  of  his 
brother,  hated  him  more  intensely  than  ever  as  he  lis¬ 
tened  to  the  words  of  admiration  for  his  noble  bearing 
and  superb  appearance  which  fell  upon  his  ears  all 
along  the  route  of  the  procession.  From  that  moment 
the  worthy  Cardinal  Valentino  sealed  in  his  own  mind 
the  fate  of  this  man  whom  he  was  forever  finding  in  the 
path  of  his  pride,  his  love  and  his  ambition. 

“  The  Duke  of  Gandia,”  thus  says  Tommaso,  the 
historian,  “  surely  had  good  reason,  the  ill-fated  youth  ! 
to  wish  to  leave  in  the  public  mind  a  distinct  and  pleas¬ 
ant  remembrance  of  his  amiability  and  magnificence  on 
this  festal  occasion,  for  it  was  the  last  great  function 
which  preceded  his  funeral  rites.” 

Lucrezia,  too,  had  come  to  Rome,  on  the  pretext  of 
taking  part  in  this  ceremony,  but  in  reality,  as  we  shall 
soon  see,  with  the  view  of  becoming  once  more  the  in¬ 
strument  of  her  father’s  ambition. 

As  the  pope  was  not  content  that  his  son  should  enjoy 
nothing  greater  than  this  vain  triumph  of  ostentation 
and  pride,  and  as  his  war  with  the  Orsini  did  not  result 
as  he  hoped  it  might,  he  determined  to  augment  the  for¬ 
tune  of  his  first-born  by  doing  just  what  he  had  re¬ 
proached  Pope  Calixtus  for  doing,  in  the  famous 
harangue  we  have  quoted;  that  is  to  say  by  cutting 
off  from  the  dominions  of  the  Church  the  cities  of 
Benevento,  Terracina,  and  Pontecorvo,  and  with  them 
forming  a  duchy  to  be  bestowed  upon  him  as  an  appan¬ 
age.  This  proposition  was  made  by  him  in  consistory, 
and  as  the  Sacred  College  was  entirely  subservient  to 
him,  it  met  with  no  opposition. 

This  addition  to  the  honors  and  emoluments  already 
heaped  upon  his  brother,  exasperated  Caesar  still  more, 


126  THE  BORGIAS. 

although  he  came  in  for  his  share  of  the  paternal  favors, 
being  appointed  legate  a  latere  to  Frederic  of  Naples, 
in  which  capacity  he  was  to  place  the  crown  upon  the 
King’s  head  in  the  name  of  the  pope. 

Meanwhile  Lucrezia,  after  passing  a  few  days  holiday¬ 
making  with  her  father  and  brothers,  had  gone  into 
strict  retirement  at  the  convent  of  St.  Sixtus.  No  one 
knew  the  real  reason  for  this  step,  nor  could  Csesar, 
whose  passion  for  her  was  as  strange  as  it  was  unnatural, 
prevail  upon  her  to  delay  it,  at  least  until  the  day 
following  his  departure  for  Naples.  Her  obstinacy 
wounded  him  deeply,  for  ever  since  the  day  when  the 
Duke  of  Gandia  made  his  appearance  in  the  procession 
in  his  gorgeous  attire,  he  fancied  that  he  had  noticed 
that  his  incestuous  mistress  had  grown  cool  toward  him, 
and  his  hatred  for  his  brother  reached  such  a  height  that 
he  resolved  to  rid  himself  of  him  at  any  price.  He 
therefore  sent  word  to  the  leader  of  his  bravoes  to  come 
to  him  that  same  evening. 

Michelotto  was  accustomed  to  these  mysterious  mes¬ 
sages,  which  almost  always  meant  that  there  was  some 
passion  to  be  indulged  or  some  plan  of  vengeance  to  be 
carried  out.  As  in  either  case  he  was  sure  to  be  hand¬ 
somely  paid,  he  took  good  care  to  be  punctual  and,  at 
the  appointed  time,  he  was  ushered  into  his  patron’s 
presence. 

Csesar  was  awaiting  him  leaning  against  the  corner 
of  a  vast  fireplace,  no  longer  clad  in  his  cardinal’s  robe 
and  hat,  but  in  a  slashed  doublet  of  black  velvet, 
through  which  could  be  seen  a  satin  vest  of  the  same 
color.  One  of  his  hands  was  playing  mechanically  with 
his  gloves,  while  the  other  rested  on  the  hilt  of  a  poisoned 
dagger,  which  was  always  at  his  side.  It  was  the  cos¬ 
tume  which  he  regularly  assumed  for  his  nocturnal 


THE  BORGIAS. 


127 


expeditions  and  Michelotto  was  not  surprised  therefore 
to  find  him  wearing  it.  But  his  eyes  flashed  with  a 
more  ominous  fire  than  usual,  and  his  cheeks,  ordinarily 
pale,  were  fairly  leaden-hued.  Michelotto  had  but  to 
cast  one  glance  upon  his  master’s  face  to  see  that  some¬ 
thing  of  dire  import  was  to  take  place  between  them. 

Caesar  motioned  to  him  to  close  the  door,  which  he 
did  at  once ;  then,  after  a  moment’s  silence,  during 
which  Borgia’s  eyes  seemed  to  seek  to  read  to  the  utter¬ 
most  depths  of  the  soul  of  the  reckless  ruffian  who  stood 
with  uncovered  head  before  him. 

“  Michelotto,”  he  said,  in  a  tone  in  which  the  only 
indication  of  emotion  of  any  sort  was  the  slightly  jocose 
inflection,  “  how  do  you  think  my  costume  becomes 
me?” 

Well  used  as  the  rascal  was  to  the  circumlocutions 
which  his  master  ordinarily  made  use  of  before  disclos¬ 
ing  his  real  purpose,  he  was  so  far  from  expecting  the 
question  that  he  was  speechless  for  a  moment. 

“  Admirably,  Monsignore,”  he  said  at  last ;  “  it  gives 
your  Excellency  the  appearance  of  a  soldier,  to  match 
your  heart.” 

“  I  am  well  pleased  that  you  think  so,”  said  Caesar. 
“Tell  me  now,  do  you  know  whose  fault  it  is  that 
instead  of  this  garb,  which  I  can  wear  only  at  night, 
I  am  compelled  to  disguise  myself  by  day  in  a  cardinal’s 
hat  and  cloak  and  to  pass  my  time  ambling  from  church 
to  church  and  from  consistory  to  consistory,  when  I 
ought  to  be  leading  a  noble  army  upon  the  battlefield — 
an  army  in  which  you  should  be  a  captain,  instead  of 
being,  as  you  are,  the  chief  of  a  band  of  wretched  des¬ 
peradoes  ?  ” 

“Yes,  Monsignore,”  Michelotto  replied, — he  had 
guessed  Caesar’s  meaning  at  once — “  the  cause  of  all  this 


128 


THE  BORGIAS. 


is  Monsignore  Francesco,  Duke  of  Gandia  and  Bene- 
vento,  your  elder  brother.” 

“  And  do  you  know,”  continued  Caesar,  without  any 
other  sign  of  approval  of  the  bravo’s  reply  than  a  nod 
of  the  head,  accompanied  by  a  bitter  smile ;  “  do  you 
know  who  it  is  who  has  wealth  without  genius,  a  helmet 
without  brains,  a  sword  without  strength  to  wield  it  ?  ” 

“  The  Duke  of  Gandia  again.” 

“  Do  you  know  who  it  is  who  is  always  an  obstacle  in 
the  path  of  my  ambition,  my  fortune  and  my  love? ” 

“  Still  the  Duke  of  Gandia.” 

“  What  is  your  conclusion  ?  ”  Caesar  asked. 

“I  conclude  that  he  must  die,”  coolly  replied  the 
ruffian. 

“  It  is  my  conclusion,  too,”  said  Caesar,  stepping  to¬ 
ward  him  and  seizing  his  hand,  “  and  my  only  regret  is 
that  I  did  not  come  to  that  conclusion  long  ago.  If  I 
had  had  a  sword  by  my  side  instead  of  a  crucifix  in  my 
hand  when  the  King  of  France  passed  through  Italy 
last  year,  I  should  have  been  ruler  of  some  princely 
domain  to-day.  The  pope  desires  to  exalt  his  family, 
that  is  evident  enough,  but  he  is  mistaken  as  to  the 
proper  means.  I  ought  to  be  the  duke  and  my  brother 
the  cardinal.  If  he  had  made  me  a  duke  it  is  very  cer¬ 
tain  that  I  would  have  added  to  the  authority  conferred 
upon  me  by  him,  the  intrepid  courage  which  would  have 
made  that  authority  effective.  He  who  wishes  to  attain 
power  and  wealth  must  crush  beneath  his  feet  whatever 
obstacles  he  encounters  upon  his  path,  and  press  boldly 
against  the  sharpest  thorns  without  heed  to  the  agoniz¬ 
ing  shrieks  of  his  flesh ;  he  must  strike  with  closed  eyes, 
with  sword  or  dagger,  to  open  his  road  to  fortune ;  he 
must  not  fear  to  dip  his  hands  in  his  own  blood ;  he 
must,  in  short,  follow  the  precedents  set  by  all  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


129 


founders  of  empires  from  Romulus  to  Bajazet,  both  of 
whom  made  their  power  secure  by  fratricide.  Well, 
Michelotto,  as  you  have  well  said,  I  am  in  the  same 
plight,  and  I  am  resolved  not  to  hesitate.  Now  you 
know  why  I  sent  for  you  ;  was  I  wrong  to  rely  upon  you  ?  ” 

As  was  to  be  expected,  Michelotto,  who  saw  vast  pos¬ 
sibilities  of  future  advantage  to  himself  in  the  crime, 
replied  that  he  was  entirely  at  Caesar’s  orders,  and  that 
he  had  but  to  specify  the  time,  place  and  manner  of 
their  execution.  To  this  Caesar  made  answer  that  the 
time  must  necessarily  be  very  soon,  as  he  was  on  the 
point  of  starting  for  Naples,  and  that  the  place  and 
manner  of  putting  his  brother  to  death  must  depend  on 
chance ;  that  they  must  be  on  the  watch  and  seize  the 
first  favorable  opportunity. 

On  the  day  following  that  on  which  this  scheme  was 
concocted  Caesar  learned  that  his  departure  was  fixed 
for  Thursday,  June  15 ;  at  the  same  time  he  received  an 
invitation  from  his  mother  to  sup  with  her  on  the  four¬ 
teenth.  The  banquet  was  to  be  given  in  his  honor  on 
the  occasion  of  his  leaving  Rome.  Michelotto  was 
instructed  to  be  in  readiness  at  eleven  o’clock  on  the 
evening  in  question. 

The  table  was  spread  in  the  open  air  at  a  beautiful 
villa  owned  by  Yanozza,  near  St.  Peter-in-Vinculis. 
The  guests  were  Csesar  Borgia,  the  hero  of  the  hour ; 
the  Duke  of  Gandia,  the  Prince  of  Squillace  and 
Donna  Sancia,  his  wife ;  the  Cardinal  of  Mont-Real, 
Francesco  Borgia,  son  of  Calixtus  III. ;  Don  Rodrigo 
Borgia,  governor  of  the  apostolic  palace  ;  Don  Godefroy, 
brother  of  Cardinal  Giovanni  Borgia,  then  legate  at 
Perouse,  and  Don  Alphonso  Borgia,  the  pope’s  nephew. 
The  whole  family  was  present,  except  Lucrezia,  who 
had  refused  to  come,  being  still  at  the  convent. 

Vol.  II.— 9. 


130 


THE  BORGIA8. 


It  was  a  superb  feast.  Caesar  displayed  his  customary 
gayety,  while  the  Duke  of  Gandia  seemed  even  more 
light-hearted  and  joyous  than  ever  before. 

While  they  were  still  at  table  a  masked  man  brought 
Francesco  a  letter.  He  broke  the  seal,  fairly  beaming 
with  pleasure  and,  after  running  his  eye  over  the  con¬ 
tents,  replied  simply  :  “  I  will  be  there,”  and  then  quickly 
thrust  the  precious  paper  into  the  pocket  of  his  doublet. 
But,  make  what  haste  he  might  to  conceal  it,  Csesar  had 
time  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  it,  and  fancied  that  he  recog¬ 
nized  Lucrezia’s  handwriting. 

Meanwhile  the  messenger  had  withdrawn  unnoticed 
by  all  save  Csesar ;  for  it  was  customary  in  those  days 
to  send  love  messages  by  men  whose  faces  were  covered 
by  masks  or  by  women  closely  veiled. 

At  ten  o’clock  they  rose  from  the  table  and,  as  the  air 
was  extremely  mild  and  clear,  they  strolled  about  for 
some  time  under  the  magnificent  pines  which  afforded 
bountiful  shade  to  the  Vanozza’s  mansion,  but  Csesar 
did  not  once  lose  sight  of  his  brother.  At  eleven,  the 
Duke  of  Gandia  bade  his  mother  good-night,  and  Csesar 
followed  his  example  on  the  pretext  that  he  had  still  to 
go  to  the  Vatican  to  take  leave  of  the  pope,  a  filial 
duty  which  he  could  not  postpone  till  the  morrow  as  he 
was  to  leave  Rome  at  daybreak.  This  excuse  was  the 
more  readily  accepted  because  the  pope  never  retired 
until  two  or  three  o’clock  in  the  morning. 

The  two  brothers  went  out  together,  mounted  the 
horses  which  awaited  them  at  the  door  and  rode  side  by 
side  as  far  as  the  Borgia  palace,  then  occupied  by  Cardinal 
Ascanio  Sforza,  to  whom  Alexander  presented  it  on  the 
eve  of  his  election  to  the  papacy.  There  the  Duke  of 
Gandia  and  his  brother  parted,  the  former  saying  with 
a  smile  that  he  did  not  expect  to  return  home  as  he  had 


THE  BORGIAS. 


131 


a  visit  to  pay  to  a  certain  fair  one,  who  was  awaiting 
his  coming.  Caesar  replied  that  he  could  employ  his 
time  as  he  thought  fit,  and  wished  him  good-night. 

Francesco  turned  to  the  right  and  Caesar  to  the  left, 
and  Caesar  noticed  that  the  street  which  his  brother  took 
led  to  the  monastery  of  Saint-Sixtus,  where  Lucrezia 
was  then  living.  With  his  suspicions  confirmed  by  this 
fact,  he  made  the  best  of  his  way  to  the  Vatican,  where 
he  took  leave  of  the  pope  and  received  his  blessing. 

From  that  moment  nothing  certain  is  known  of  the 
terrible  deed  which  we  are  about  to  describe ;  it  is 
shrouded  in  mystery  as  impenetrable  as  the  darkness  in 
which  it  was  perpetrated. 

The  following  is  what  is  generally  believed  to  have 
happened : 

When  he  parted  from  Csesar,  the  duke  sent  away  his 
people,  keeping  with  him  a  single  confidential  servant, 
in  whose  company  he  rode  on  to  the  Square  of  Guidecca. 
There  he  found  the  same  masked  man  who  brought  him 
the  letter ;  he  bade  his  servant  attend  him  no  farther, 
but  to  await  his  return  on  the  square,  where  he  would 
take  him  up  in  two  hours  or  thereabouts.  At  the  ap¬ 
pointed  time  he  did  return,  dismissed  the  masked  man 
and  started  to  ride  back  to  his  palace ;  but  he  had  no 
sooner  turned  the  corner  of  the  Jews’  Ghetto  than  four 
men  on  foot,  led  by  a  fifth,  who  was  mounted,  rushed 
upon  him.  Believing  that  he  had  to  do  with  robbers,  or 
was  the  victim  of  a  mistake,  he  gave  them  his  name, 
but,  instead  of  staying  their  daggers,  the  name  made 
them  redouble  their  blows  and  the  duke  soon  fell  dead 
by  the  side  of  his  dying  valet. 

Thereupon  the  mounted  man,  who  had  looked  on  in 
cold  impassibility  while  the  foul  deed  was  done,  forced 
his  horse  to  back  toward  the  body,  which  the  four 


132 


THE  BORGIAS. 


murderers  laid  across  his  saddle  behind  him  ;  then  they 
walked  beside  the  horse  to  hold  it  in  place,  and  the 
whole  party  plunged  into  the  lane  which  leads  to  the 
Church  of  Santa-Maria  in  Monticelli. 

The  unfortunate  valet  was  left  for  dead  upon  the 
pavement ;  but  a  moment  after  they  had  gone  he  recov¬ 
ered  his  strength  sufficiently  to  groan,  and  his  groans 
were  heard  by  the  occupants  of  a  house  near  by,  who 
carried  him  in  and  laid  him  on  a  bed,  where  he  expired 
almost  immediately  without  giving  any  information  as 
to  the  murder  or  its  perpetrators. 

The  Duke  of  Gandia’s  household  awaited  his  return 
all  night  and  all  the  following  morning;  then  their 
expectations  changed  to  dread,  and  their  dread  soon 
became  downright  alarm.  They  went  to  the  pope  and 
told  him  that  his  son  had  not  returned  to  his  palace 
since  he  left  his  mother’s  house,  but  Alexander  tried  to 
deceive  himself  all  the  rest  of  the  day  with  the  vain 
hope  that  daylight  had  surprised  him  in  some  love 
adventure  and  that  he  was  waiting  for  darkness  to  cover 
his  return. 

But  the  night  passed  without  any  news  of  him ;  and 
on  the  following  day  the  pope,  a  prey  to  the  gloomiest 
forebodings,  and  driven  mad  by  the  loudly  expressed 
popular  belief  that  a  great  calamity  had  befallen  him, 
abandoned  himself  to  utter  despair,  and  could  find 
nothing  to  say  amid  his  sighs  and  sobs  but  these  words, 
which  he  repeated  a  thousand  times  : 

“  Search  for  him,  search  for  him,  and  find  out  how 
the  poor  boy  met  his  death  !  ” 

Everyone  thereupon  joined  in  the  search,  for  the  duke 
was  a  general  favorite  ;  but,  search  as  they  might,  from 
one  end  of  the  city  to  the  other,  they  could  find  nothing 
but  the  body  of  the  duke’s  valet ;  of  the  master  there 


THE  BORGIAS. 


133 


was  no  trace.  It  was  believed,  therefore,  and  with 
good  reason,  that  he  had  probably  been  thrown  into  the 
Tiber,  and  they  began  to  follow  down  its  banks  from  Via 
della  Ripetta,  questioning  all  the  boatmen  and  fisher¬ 
men,  who  were  in  a  position  to  see,  from  their  houses  or 
their  boats,  what  took  place  on  the  shores  of  the  river 
during  the  two  preceding  nights. 

At  first  all  their  questioning  was  barren  of  results, 
but  when  they  reached  a  point  about  opposite  Via  della 
Fantanone,  they  finally  found  a  man  who  said  that  he 
saw  something  during  the  night  of  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  which  might  possibly  have  some  bearing  upon 
what  they  desired  to  know.  He  was  a  Slavonian  named 
Giorgio,  who  was  taking  a  load  of  wood  up  river  to 
Ripetta.  These  are  his  own  words  : 

“  Signori,”  he  said,  “  after  I  unloaded  my  wood  on  the 
bank  Wednesday  evening,  I  remained  in  my  boat,  en¬ 
joying  the  cool  night  air,  and  watching  to  see  that  no¬ 
body  made  off  with  what  I  had  unloaded ;  it  was 
about  two  in  the  morning  when  I  saw  two  men  on  foot 
come  out  of  the  lane  to  the  left  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Jerome.  They  walked  out  into  the  middle  of  the  street, 
and  by  the  care  with  which  they  looked  about  in  every 
direction,  they  proved  that  they  came  out  only  to  see  if 
anyone  was  passing.  When  they  were  certain  that  the 
locality  was  deserted,  they  went  back  into  the  lane,  and 
soon  after  two  others  came  out,  using  the  same  precau¬ 
tions  to  make  sure  that  there  was  nothing  in  sight. 
Finding  everything  as  they  wished  to  find  it,  they 
signed  to  their  comrades  to  join  them.  Thereupon,  a 
man  on  a  dapple  gray  horse  rode  out,  with  the  body  of 
a  dead  man  lying  across  his  saddle  behind  him,  the  head 
and  arms  hanging  down  on  one  side,  and  the  feet  on  the 
other,  the  hands  and  feet  being  held  by  the  two  men 


134 


THE  BORGIAS. 


who  first  came  out  to  reconnoitre.  The  three  drew  near 
the  river  while  the  others  watched  the  street;  they 
went  to  the  spot  where  the  city  drain  discharges  into  the 
Tiber,  the  horseman  turned  his  horse  so  that  his  tail  was 
toward  the  stream,  and  the  men  at  his  sides  took  the 
body  by  the  hands  and  feet,  and  swung  it  back  and 
forth  thrice.  At  the  third  swing  they  threw  it  with  all 
their  strength  into  the  river. 

“  When  he  heard  the  splash  of  the  heavy  body  falling 
into  the  water,  the  horseman  asked  :  ‘  Is  it  done  ?  ’  and 
the  others  replied :  ‘Yes,  my  Lord.’  Thereupon  he 
wheeled  his  horse  around,  and  seeing  the  dead  man’s 
cloak  floating  on  the  surface,  he  asked  what  that  black 
thing  was. 

“  ‘  It’s  his  cloak,  my  Lord,’  said  one  of  the  men,  and 
another  ran  to  the  part  of  the  bank  nearest  to  it  and 
threw  stones  at  it  until  it  sank.  As  soon  as  it  disap¬ 
peared,  they  moved  away  and,  after  going  along  the 
street  a  few  steps,  turned  into  the  lane  which  leads  to 
St.  James.  That  is  all  I  saw,  Signori,  and  I  can  make 
no  further  answer  to  your  questions.” 

These  words  removed  the  last  hope  of  those  who  still 
cherished  any  hope;  but  one  of  the  pope’s  retainers 
asked  the  Slav  how  it  was  that  after  witnessing  such  a 
transaction  he  did  not  report  it  to  the  governor.  He  re¬ 
plied  that  since  he  had  been  plying  his  trade  upon  the 
river  he  had  seen  a  hundred  dead  bodies  thrown  in 
in  much  the  same  way,  but  had  never  heard  that  any¬ 
body  was  at  all  disturbed  over  it ;  so  he  supposed  that 
it  would  be  the  same  with  this  one  as  with  all  the 
others,  and  he  did  not  deem  it  his  duty  to  speak  of  it. 

Acting  upon  this  information  his  Holiness’  people 
immediately  assembled  all  the  boatmen  and  fishermen 
on  the  river,  and  promised  so  handsome  a  reward  to  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


135 


one  who  should  find  the  duke’s  body  that  they  soon  had 
more  than  a  hundred  engaged  in  the  search.  Before 
nightfall  of  the  same  day,  which  was  the  Friday,  two 
bodies  were  taken  from  the  water,  one  of  which  was 
identified  as  that  of  the  ill-starred  Francesco. 

A  single  glance  at  the  body  left  no  doubt  as  to  the 
cause  of  death.  It  was  pierced  with  nine  wounds ;  the 
most  serious  one  was  in  the  throat  and  the  jugular 
artery  was  severed.  His  clothes  were  not  disturbed ;  he 
was  wearing  his  doublet,  his  gloves  were  in  his  belt,  and 
his  money  in  his  purse ;  therefore  the  motive  for  the 
deed  was  revenge,  not  robbery. 

The  boat  which  bore  the  body  ascended  the  Tiber  to 
the  Castle  of  San- Angelo,  where  it  was  taken  ashore. 
The  gorgeous  suit  which  was  worn  by  the  duke  the  day 
of  the  procession  was  brought  from  his  palace,  and  they 
clothed  him  in  it,  and  laid  by  his  side  the  insignia  of  the 
vicar-generalship  of  the  Church.  His  body  lay  exposed 
to  view  all  day,  but  his  distracted  father  had  not  the 
courage  to  go  and  look  upon  him.  At  last,  when  night 
fell,  his  most  faithful  and  most  trusted  retainers  carried 
him  to  the  Church  of  the  Madonna  del  Popolo,  with  all 
the  pomp  which  court  and  church,  acting  in  concert, 
could  bring  to  the  obsequies  of  the  pope’s  son. 

Meanwhile  Caesar  Borgia  was  placing  the  crown  upon 
the  head  of  Frederic  of  Aragon,  with  his  blood-stained 
hands. 

This  blow  wounded  Alexander  to  the  heart’s  core.  As 
he  had  no  idea  at  first  upon  whom  suspicion  ought  to 
rest,  he  gave  the  strictest  orders  that  the  murderers 
should  be  brought  to  justice  ;  but  ere  long  the  lament¬ 
able  truth  forced  itself  upon  him.  He  saw  that  the 
blow  dealt  his  family  came  from  the  very  bosom  of  the 
family  itself,  and  his  despair  changed  to  frenzy.  He 


136 


THE  BORGIAS. 


ran  like  a  madman  through  the  apartments  and  corri¬ 
dors  of  the  Vatican,  and  bursting  into  the  consistory, 
with  his  garments  torn  and  his  hair  covered  with  ashes, 
he  confessed  all  the  irregularities  of  his  past  life,  and 
admitted  that  God  inflicted  merited  punishment  upon 
him  by  thus  inciting  his  own  flesh  and  blood  to  rend 
itself.  Then  he  withdrew  to  one  of  the  most  secluded 
and  darkest  corners  of  the  palace  and  shut  himself  up 
there,  saying  that  he  proposed  to  starve  himself  to 
death.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  took  no  food  by  day,  and 
no  rest  by  night  for  more  than  sixty  hours,  replying  to 
those  who  knocked  at  the  door  and  begged  him  to  live, 
with  groans  as  weak  as  a  woman’s,  or  the  roar  of  a  lion. 
At  last  Guilia  Farnese,  his  latest  mistress,  who  was 
called  Guilia  Bella,  finding  that  she  could  not  move 
him,  was  forced  to  send  for  Lucrezia,  the  daughter 
whom  he  loved  with  a  two-fold  love,  to  overcome  his 
mortal  obstinacy. 

Lucrezia  emerged  from  her  solitude  where  she  was  be¬ 
wailing  the  death  of  her  brother,  to  try  and  comfort  her 
father.  At  the  sound  of  her  voice,  the  door  opened, 
and  not  till  then  could  the  Cardinal  of  Segovia,  who 
had  been  kneeling  on  the  threshold  the  better  part  of  a 
day,  entreating  his  Holiness  to  take  heart,  not  till  then, 
we  say,  was  he  able  to  enter  the  room  with  servants 
bearing  food  and  wine. 

Three  days  and  three  nights  the  pope  remained  alone 
with  Lucrezia ;  then  he  reappeared  in  public,  calm,  if 
not  comforted.  Guicciardini  says  that  his  daughter 
made  him  see  that  it  would  be  dangerous  for  him  to 
make  too  public  a  display  before  the  assassin,  who 
would  soon  return,  of  his  boundless  affection  for  the 
victim. 

Meanwhile  Caesar  Borgia  was  staying  on  at  Naples, 


THE  BORGIAS 


The  body  of  Francesco  Borgia ,  Duke  of 
Gandia ,  murdered  by  order  of  Ccesar  Borgia , 
thrown  into  the  Tiber. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


137 


in  order  to  give  his  father’s  grief  time  to  grow  calmer, 
as  well  as  to  carry  through  a  new  mission  with  which  he 
was  entrusted,  and  which  was  nothing  less  than  the  ne¬ 
gotiation  of  a  marriage  between  Lucrezia  and  Don 
Alphonso  of  Aragon,  Duke  of  Bicelli  and  Prince  of 
Salerno,  the  natural  son  of  Alphonso  II.  and  brother  of 
Donna  Sancia.  To  be  sure  Lucrezia  was  already 
married  to  the  Lord  of  Pesaro  ;  but  she  was  the  daugh¬ 
ter  of  a  father  who  had  received  from  heaven  the 
right  to  bind  and  to  unbind,  so  that  there  was  no  occa¬ 
sion  to  worry  about  trifles.  When  everything  was  ready 
for  the  new  betrothal,  the  divorce  would  be  forthcom¬ 
ing  ;  Alexander  was  too  clever  a  politician  to  leave  his 
daughter  married  to  a  son-in-law  who  had  become  use¬ 
less  to  him. 

Toward  the  end  of  August  they  learned  that  the 
legate,  having  accomplished  his  mission  to  the  new 
king  to  his  perfect  satisfaction,  was  about  to  return  to 
Rome.  He  arrived  on  the  fifth  of  September,  less  than 
three  months  after  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Gandia, 
and  on  the  sixth  he  went  from  the  Church  of  Santa- 
Maria-Novella,  at  the  door  of  which  the  cardinals,  and 
the  ambassadors  of  Spain  and  Venice  were  awaiting 
him  on  horseback,  according  to  custom,  to  the  Vatican, 
where  his  Holiness  was  then  presiding  over  the  consis¬ 
tory.  He  entered  the  apartments  where  that  body  was 
in  session,  and  was  received  by  the  pope,  who  bestowed 
his  blessing  upon  him,  and  embraced  him,  in  accordance 
with  the  ceremonial.  Then,  still  accompanied  by  the 
cardinals  and  ambassadors  as  before,  he  was  escorted  to 
his  apartments,  and  went  thence,  as  soon  as  he  was  left 
alone,  to  those  of  the  pope.  They  did  not  speak  together 
at  the  consistory,  and  the  father  and  son  had  a  thousand 
things  to  say  to  each  other,  but  not,  as  one  might  think, 


138 


THE  BORGIAS. 


of  the  Duke  of  Gandia ;  his  name  was  not  mentioned 
between  them  on  that  day  nor  afterwards,  any  more 
than  if  he  had  never  existed. 

It  should  be  said  that  Caesar  was  the  bearer  of  good 
news.  King  Frederic  gave  his  consent  to  the  proposed 
union,  and  the  marriage  between  Sforza  and  Lucrezia 
was  annulled  on  the  ground  of  impotence.  He  also 
authorized  the  exhumation  of  Djein’s  body,  which,  as 
the  reader  will  remember,  was  worth  three  hundred 
thousand  ducats  to  the  pope. 

Thereafter,  as  Caesar  had  hoped  and  expected,  he 
succeeded  to  the  power  and  influence  in  the  pope’s 
counsels  which  the  Duke  of  Gandia  had  exerted,  and 
the  Romans  were  not  slow  to  feel  the  effects  of  the 
change  in  the  rapid  strides  which  Rome  made  toward 
utter  demoralization.  It  was  a  constant  succession  of 
fetes,  balls  and  masquerades ;  of  hunting  parties  on  a 
vast  scale  of  magnificence,  at  which,  Caesar,  who  was 
beginning  to  lay  aside  his  cardinal’s  robe  from  time  to 
time,  perhaps  because  the  color  fatigued  him,  appeared 
in  a  coat  cut  after  the  French  fashion,  attended,  in 
regal  state,  by  cardinals,  ambassadors,  and  guards. 
Thus  it  came  about  that  the  papal  city,  wholly  en¬ 
grossed  like  any  courtesan,  in  her  lewd  orgies  and 
debauchery,  had  never  been  (says  the  Cardinal  of 
Viterbo),  even  in  the  days  of  Nero  or  Heliogabalus, 
more  aflame  with  sedition,  more  deeply  sunken  in  riot¬ 
ous  living,  or  more  stained  with  blood.  Never  had  the 
hand  of  God  borne  so  heavily  upon  her,  never  had  she 
been  so  dishonored  by  informers,  never  had  her  streets 
been  so  infested  by  bands  of  hired  ruffians.  Robbers 
were  so  numerous,  and  so  bold  that  to  go  beyond  the 
city  gates  was  to  court  death,  and  even  within  the  walls 
one  was  no  longer  safe.  Neither  house  nor  fortress 


THE  BORGIAS. 


139 


afforded  sure  asylum.  There  was  no  law  nor  justice. 
Gold,  brute  strength,  and  license  were  kings  in  Rome. 

Meanwhile  gold  was  melting  away  in  these  fetes  as  in 
a  fiery  furnace,  and  by  a  just  dispensation  of  heaven 
Alexander  and  Caesar  began  to  look  with  covetous  eyes 
upon  the  fortunes  of  the  very  men  whose  simony  had 
effected  their  elevation  to  the  point  they  had  reached. 
The  first  trial  that  they  made  of  this  new  method  of 
coining  money  was  upon  the  Cardinal  of  Cosenza.  The 
pretext  was  as  follows : 

A  papal  dispensation  had  been  granted  some  time  be¬ 
fore  to  a  professed  nun,  the  last  heiress  of  the  crown  of 
Portugal,  to  lay  aside  the  veil  and  marry  a  natural  son 
of  the  last  king.  This  marriage  was  prejudicial  to  the 
last  degree  to  the  interests  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
of  Spain,  and  they  sent  ambassadors  to  Alexander  to 
complain  of  such  a  proceeding  just  at  the  time  that  a 
marriage  was  about  to  be  contracted  between  the  House 
of  Aragon  and  the  Holy  See. 

Alexander  realized  the  force  of  their  complaints,  and 
determined  to  set  himself  right  with  them.  He  conse¬ 
quently  denied  all  knowledge  of  the  dispensatory  letter, 
for  signing  which  he  had  received  sixty  thousand 
ducats,  and  accused  the  Archbishop  of  Cosenza,  secre¬ 
tary  of  the  department  having  cognizance  of  such  mat¬ 
ters,  of  sending  a  forged  dispensation.  Upon  that 
charge  the  archbishop  was  taken  to  the  Castle  of  San 
Angelo,  and  a  prosecution  was  instituted. 

As  it  was  by  no  means  a  simple  matter  to  prove  such 
a  charge,  especially  if  the  archbishop  should  persist  in 
asserting  that  the  pope  actually  signed  the  dispensation, 
they  resolved  to  practice  upon  him  a  trick  which  could 
hardly  fail  of  success. 

One  evening  the  Cardinal  of  Cosenza  received  a  visit 


140 


THE  BORGIAS. 


in  his  cell  from  Cardinal  Valentino.  With  the  unaf¬ 
fected  affable  air,  which  he  knew  so  well  how  to  assume 
when  it  would  be  useful  to  him,  he  pointed  out  to  the 
prisoner  the  embarrassment  of  the  pope,  and  that  no 
one  but  himself,  whom  his  Holiness  looked  upon  as  his 
best  friend,  could  extricate  him  from  it. 

The  archbishop  replied  that  he  was  entirely  at  his 
Holiness’  service. 

Thereupon  Caesar  seated  himself  at  the  other  side  of 
the  table  upon  which  the  prisoner  was  leaning  with  his 
head  in  his  hand,  when  he  entered,  and  dilated  at  length 
upon  the  dilemma  of  the  Holy  See.  Beyond  question 
it  was  a  perplexing  one.  At  the  very  moment  of  ratify¬ 
ing  so  important  an  alliance  with  the  House  of  Aragon, 
as  that  of  Alphonso  and  Lucrezia,  they  could  not  con¬ 
fess  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  that  for  a  few  paltry 
ducats  his  Holiness  had  signed  a  dispensation  which 
brought  together  in  the  hands  of  the  husband  and  wife 
all  the  legitimate  claims  to  a  crown  upon  which  Ferdi¬ 
nand  and  Isabella  had  no  other  claims  than  those  of 
conquest.  This  confession  w’ould  inevitably  break  off 
all  negotiations  and  the  pope’s  family  would  bring  about 
its  own  fall  by  making  impossible  an  alliance  which 
ought  to  be  the  basis  of  a  vast  augmentation  of  its 
greatness. 

The  Archbishop  of  Cosenza  therefore  would  readily 
see  what  the  pope  hoped  for  as  the  fruit  of  his  devotion 
and  good-will ;  it  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  sim¬ 
ple  admission  on  his  part  that  he  had  supposed  that  he 
might  take  it  upon  himself  to  grant  the  dispensation. 

As  the  penalty  to  be  paid  for  an  offence  of  that 
nature  was  entirely  within  the  discretion  of  Alexander, 
the  culprit  would  readily  see  that  the  sentence  would  be 
as  mild  as  any  father  could  inflict.  Furthermore  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


141 


reward  was  in  the  same  hands  as  the  sentence,  and  if 
the  sentence  were  such  as  might  be  expected  from  a 
father,  the  reward  would  surely  not  be  unworthy  of  a 
king.  It  would  be  nothing  less  than  to  be  present  as 
legate,  and  with  the  title  of  cardinal,  at  the  wedding  of 
Lucrezia  and  Alphonso,  an  honor  which  would  be  no 
more  than  his  due,  because  the  marriage  would  not  take 
place  except  for  his  self-sacrificing  devotion. 

The  Archbishop  of  Cosenza  knew  the  men  with  whom 
he  had  to  do ;  he  knew  that  they  would  hesitate  at 
nothing  to  gain  their  ends ;  he  knew  that  they  had  a 
powder  with  the  taste  and  odor  of  sugar,  the  presence 
of  which  in  food  could  not  be  detected,  and  which  killed 
slowly  or  quickly,  as  they  chose,  without  leaving  a 
trace ;  he  knew  the  secret  of  a  poisoned  key  which  was 
always  on  the  pope’s  mantel,  so  that,  when  his  Holiness 
wished  to  be  rid  of  one  of  his  intimates,  he  would  order 
him  to  go  and  open  a  certain  drawer — the  handle  of  the 
key  was  supplied  with  a  small,  sharp  point  and,  as  the 
lock  of  the  drawer  was  hard  to  turn,  it  was  necessary  to 
grasp  the  key  firmly  and  use  force,  when  the  lock  would 
yield  and  the  victim  noticed  nothing  save  a  slight 
scratch ;  but  that  scratch  was  fatal.  He  knew,  too,  that 
Caesar  wore  a  ring  formed  of  two  lions’  heads,  and  when 
he  shook  hands  with  one  of  his  friends,  he  would  turn 
the  stone  inward,  the  teeth  of  the  lion  would  thereupon 
become  the  teeth  of  a  serpent,  and  the  friend  died,  curs¬ 
ing  the  whole  race  of  Borgias. 

He  yielded,  therefore,  partly  through  fear,  and  partly 
because  he  was  dazzled  by  the  promised  reward ;  and 
Caesar  returned  to  the  Vatican,  armed  with  the  precious 
paper  wherein  the  Archbishop  of  Cosenza  avowed  that 
he,  and  he  alone,  was  responsible  for  the  dispensation 
granted  to  the  nun  of  royal  blood. 


142 


i 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Two  days  later,  by  virtue  of  the  evidence  furnished 
by  the  archbishop  himself,  the  pope,  in  the  presence  of 
the  Governor  of  Rome,  the  auditor  of  the  apostolic 
chamber,  and  the  principal  law  officers,  pronounced 
sentence  upon  him.  He  was  condemned  to  be  deprived 
of  all  his  benefices  and  all  his  offices  in  the  hierarchy, 
to  be  dismissed  in  disgrace  from  all  the  orders  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  and  to  suffer  confiscation  of  all  his 
property  ;  his  person  was  to  be  turned  over  to  the  civil 
magistrate. 

Two  days  later  that  functionary  visited  the  prison  to 
perform  his  duty,  according  to  the  instructions  given 
him  by  the  pope.  He  entered  the  archbishop’s  cell, 
followed  by  a  clerk,  two  servants  and  four  guards.  The 
clerk  unfolded  a  parchment  which  he  held  in  his  hand 
and  read  the  sentence ;  the  two  servants  stripped  the 
prisoner  of  his  episcopal  garb,  and  took  from  a  parcel  a 
frock  of  coarse,  white  cloth,  drawers  of  the  same  ma¬ 
terial,  and  a  pair  of  heavy  shoes,  in  which  they  dressed 
him.  Then  the  guards  took  charge  of  him  and  carried 
him  off  to  one  of  the  deepest  and  darkest  dungeons  in 
the  Castle  of  San  Angelo,  where  he  had  no  furniture 
except  a  wooden  crucifix,  a  table,  a  chair,  and  a  bed ; 
nothing  to  entertain  him  except  a  lamp,  a  bible,  and  a 
breviary ;  and  nothing  to  sustain  his  inner  man  save 
two  pounds  of  bread  and  a  keg  of  water,  which  were 
supplied  him  every  three  days,  as  was  a  bottle  of  oil  for 
his  lamp. 

Before  a  year  had  passed  the  poor  archbishop  died  of 
despair,  after  he  had  actually  gnawed  his  flesh  in  his  agony. 

On  the  same  day  that  he  paid  his  visit  to  the  dungeon, 
Caesar  Borgia,  for  his  clever  management  of  the  affair, 
was  endowed  by  the  pope  with  all  the  property  of  the 
condemned  man. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


143 


(But  the  hunting  parties  and  the  balls  and  masquer¬ 
ades  were  not  the  only  forms  of  entertainment  indulged 
in  by  the  pope  and  his  family.  From  time  to  time 
extraordinary  scenes  were  enacted  for  their  behoof.  We 
will  cite  but  two  such,  one  of  which  was  the  public 
execution  of  a  sentence,  the  other  an  incident  of  the 
stud,  pure  and  simple.  As  both  are  rich  in  details,  for 
which  we  would  not  have  the  reader  think  that  we  have 
drawn  on  our  imagination,  we  beg  leave  to  say  that  they 
are  translated  word  for  word  from  the  Latin  journal  of 
Burchard. 

“About  the  same  time  (the  early  part  of  1499)  a 
courtesan  named  La  Corsetta  was  imprisoned  for  having 
had  commerce  with  a  Spanish  Moor,  who  visited  her  in 
woman’s  clothes.  To  atone  for  their  scandalous  conduct, 
both  were  taken  through  the  streets,  she  without  shift 
or  petticoat  and  with  nothing  to  cover  her  except  the 
Moor’s  frock,  no  button  of  which  was  buttoned,  so  that 
it  was  entirely  open  in  front ;  and  he  in  his  female  garb, 
with  his  arms  tied  behind  his  back  and  the  skirts  turned 
up  above  his  waist,  so  that  the  part  which  had  sinned 
was  exposed  to  every  eye.  When  they  had  made  the 
circuit  of  the  city  thus,  La  Corsetta  was  sent  back  to 
prison  with  the  Moor.  But  on  the  seventh  of  April 
following  the  latter  was  dragged  out  again  and  taken 
with  two  robbers  to  the  Field  of  Flowers.  They  were 
preceded  by  an  archer  riding  backwards  upon  an  ass 
and  holding  in  his  hand  a  long  pole,  to  the  end  of  which 
were  fastened  the  bleeding  organs  of  a  Jew,  who  had 
been  deprived  of  them  because  he  was  detected  having 
commerce  with  a  Christian  woman.  When  they  reached 
the  place  of  execution  the  two  robbers  were  hanged 
and  the  unfortunate  Moor  was  made  fast  to  a  stake  sur¬ 
rounded  with  wood,  where  he  was  to  be  burned  alive ; 


144 


THE  BORGIAS. 


but  a  pouring  rain  came  on  and  the  fire  would  not  burn 
despite  the  efforts  of  the  executioner  to  make  it.” 

This  unforeseen  accident,  which  the  people  took  for  a 
miracle,  deprived  Lucrezia  of  the  most  interesting  part 
of  the  execution ;  but  her  father  determined  to  make  it 
up  to  her  later  by  a  spectacle  of  a  widely  different 
nature.  We  beg  to  inform  the  reader  once  more  that 
the  few  lines  which  we  purpose  to  place  before  his  eyes 
are  also  translated  from  the  journal  of  the  worthy 
German,  Burchard,  who  saw  in  the  most  harrowing 
occurrences,  as  well  as  the  most  salacious,  nothing  but 
commonplace  items,  which  he  jotted  down  with  a  scri¬ 
vener’s  indifference,  without  comment  and  without 
following  them  up  with  any  moral  reflections. 

“  On  the  eleventh  of  November  a  certain  peasant 
having  come  into  Rome  with  two  mares  loaded  with 
wood,  the  pope’s  servants  cut  the  girths  just  as  he  was 
passing  through  the  Square  of  St.  Peter’s,  so  that  the 
wood  fell  to  the  ground  with  the  pack  saddles.  Then 
they  led  the  mares  into  a  courtyard  between  the  palace 
and  the  gate,  and  opened  the  stable  doors.  Four  stall¬ 
ions,  without  bit  or  bridle,  rushed  out  in  pursuit  of  the 
mares  and,  with  a  mighty  neighing  and  stamping  and 
biting,  succeeded  in  covering  them  after  grievously 
wounding  them.  The  pope  and  Madame  Lucrezia,  who 
were  at  the  window  directly  over  the  palace  door,  took 
great  pleasure  in  the  struggle,  and  in  the  sequel.” 

(We  will  follow  Burchard’s  example  and  abstain  from 
comment.) 

The  stratagem  to  which  Caesar  had  recourse  in  the 
matter  of  his  Grace  of  Cosenza  had  the  desired  effect. 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  could  no  longer  hold  Alexander 
responsible  for  signing  the  dispensation  of  which  they 
complained,  so  that  no  further  obstacle  arose  to  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


145 


marriage  of  Lucrezia  and  Alphonso.  The  pope’s  joy 
knew  no  bounds  when  he  became  certain  of  this,  for  the 
marriage  was  of  the  more  importance  in  his  eyes,  because 
he  was  already  dreaming  of  a  second  between  Caesar  and 
Donna  Carlotta,  Frederic’s  daughter. 

Caesar’s  every  act  since  his  brother’s  death  had  demon¬ 
strated  his  unfitness  and  distaste  for  the  life  of  a  prelate, 
so  that  no  one  was  surprised  one  morning  when  he  entered 
the  consistory,  and  addressed  the  pope  to  this  effect.  He 
saw  that  from  his  earliest  years  he  had  been  irresistibly 
drawn,  both  by  his  inclination  and  his  temperament,  to 
secular  pursuits,  and  that  it  was  for  no  other  reason  than 
his  wish  to  obey  the  absolute  commands  of  his  Holiness 
that  he  had  given  his  life  to  the  Church,  accepted  the 
purple  and  such  other  dignities  as  had  been  bestowed 
upon  him,  and  had  entered  the  consecrated  ranks  of  the 
deaconry ;  that  he  realized  that  at  his  age  and  in  his 
situation,  it  was  as  unbecoming  for  him  to  yield  to  his 
desires  as  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  resist  them,  and 
therefore  he  humbly  besought  his  Holiness  to  deign  to 
humor  his  unconquerable  inclinations,  and  permit  him 
to  lay  aside  the  ecclesiastical  garb  and  dignities,  so  that 
he  might  become  a  part  of  the  world  once  more,  and 
contract  a  lawful  marriage.  At  the  same  time  he  begged 
their  Eminences,  the  cardinals,  to  intercede  for  him  with 
his  Holiness,  to  whom  he  would  voluntarily  resign  all  his 
churches,  abbeys,  and  livings,  as  well  as  all  the  other 
dignities  and  honors  connected  with  the  Church  which 
he  had  received.  The  cardinals  complied  with  Caesar’s 
request  by  unanimously  referring  the  decision  of  the 
matter  to  the  pope,  and,  as  may  readily  be  imagined, 
the  pope,  like  the  indulgent  father  he  was,  unwilling  to 
force  his  son’s  inclination,  accepted  his  renunciation, 
and  granted  his  petition.  Caesar  at  once  doffed  the 
Vol.  II.— 10. 


146 


4 


THE  BORGIAS. 


purple,  which  had  nothing  in  common  with  him,  so  says 
Tommaso  Tommasi,  his  historian,  save  that  it  is  of  the 
color  of  blood. 

Indeed,  this  renunciation  was  urgently  needed  and 
there  was  no  time  to  be  lost.  Charles  VIII.  on  return¬ 
ing  from  hunting  one  day,  thoroughly  exhausted,  washed 
his  head  with  cold  water,  and  then  ate  a  hearty  supper. 
He  had  an  apoplectic  stroke  immediately  after,  and 
died,  leaving  the  throne  to  the  well-meaning  Louis  XII., 
who  had  two  great  weaknesses,  which  were  equally  dis¬ 
astrous  in  the  sequel :  one  was  a  thirst  for  conquest,  and 
the  other  a  longing  to  have  children  of  his  own. 

Now  Alexander  who  was  always  on  the  watch  for 
every  political  change,  saw  at  a  glance  all  that  he  might 
gain  by  the  accession  of  Louis  XII.,  and  stood  in  readi¬ 
ness  to  take  advantage  of  the  new  king’s  need  of  his 
assistance  in  fulfilling  his  twofold  ambition.  He  needed 
his  assistance  as  a  secular  potentate  in  his  expedition 
against  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  upon  which  he  had  a 
claim,  as  we  have  seen,  in  right  of  Valentine  Visconti, 
his  grandmother.  He  needed  his  assistance  as  the 
supreme  head  of  the  church  to  annul  his  marriage  with 
Jeanne,  Louis  XI.’s  daughter,  who  was  barren,  and 
terribly  deformed,  and  whom  he  took  to  wife  only  be¬ 
cause  he  was  mortally  afraid  of  her  father.  Alexander 
was  ready  to  accommodate  him  in  both  respects,  and  fur¬ 
thermore  to  place  a  cardinal’s  hat  upon  the  head  of  the 
king’s  friend,  Georges  d’Amboise,  if  the  king  would  use 
his  influence  to  induce  the  young  Donna  Carlotta,  who 
was  at  his  court,  to  marry  his  (Alexander’s)  son. 

This  negotiation  was  far  advanced  when  Caesar  laid 
aside  the  purple,  and  assumed  the  garb  of  a  layman, 
which  had  been  so  long  the  constant  object  of  his  ambi¬ 
tion  ;  and  on  that  very  day  Monsieur  de  Villeneuve, 


THE  BORGIAS. 


147 


Louis’  ambassador,  who  was  to  take  Caesar  back  to 
France  with  him,  arrived  in  Rome,  and  paid  his  re¬ 
spects  to  the  ex-cardinal,  who  did  the  honors  of  the 
Eternal  City  for  a  whole  month,  with  his  accustomed 
lavish  extravagance,  surrounding  him  with  all  the 
allurements  which  he  knew  so  well  how  to  employ 
for  the  entertainment  of  those  of  whose  services  he 
stood  in  need. 

They  then  set  on  their  journey,  preceded  by  a  cour¬ 
ier  from  the  pope,  whose  mission  was  to  order  the  au¬ 
thorities  of  all  the  towns  through  which  they  passed  to 
receive  them  with  every  mark  of  honor  and  respect. 

Similar  orders  had  been  given  throughout  France, 
where  the  illustrious  travelers  were  honored  with  so 
numerous  a  guard,  and  where  people  rushed  in  such 
vast  crowds  to  see  them  pass,  that  some  of  Caesar’s  suite 
wrote  to  Rome  from  Paris  that  they  had  seen  neither 
trees  nor  houses  nor  walls  in  France ;  nothing  but  men, 
women  and  sunshine. 

The  king,  on  the  pretext  of  going  out  to  hunt,  rode 
two  leagues  out  of  the  city  to  receive  his  guest,  and  as 
he  knew  that  Caesar  was  much  attached  to  the  name  of 
Valentino,  which  he  bore  as  cardinal,  and  which  he 
still  continued  to  bear  with  the  title  of  count,  although 
he  had  resigned  the  archbishopric  whence  he  originally 
took  the  name,  created  him  Duke  of  Valentinois  in 
Dauphine,  and  gave  him  a  pension  of  twenty  thousand 
francs.  After  he  had  bestowed  this  princely  gift  upon 
him,  and  talked  with  him  for  nearly  two  hours,  he  left 
him  in  order  that  he  might  be  free  to  make  the  impres¬ 
sive  entry  he  had  arranged  to  make. 

It  was  on  Wednesday,  December  18,  1498,  that  Caesar 
Borgia  made  his  formal  entry  into  the  town  of  Chinon 
with  a  display  of  pomp  and  magnificence  worthy  of  a 


148 


| 


THE  BORGIAS. 


pope’s  son  on  his  way  to  espouse  the  daughter  of  a 
king. 

The  procession  was  led  by  twenty-four  mules  covered 
with  red  trappings,  which  were  adorned  with  shields 
bearing  the  duke’s  arms ;  they  were  loaded  with  carved 
chests  and  caskets  incrusted  with  ivory  and  silver ;  next 
came  other  twenty-four  mules,  also  covered  with  trap¬ 
pings,  but  in  this  instance  of  the  colors  of  the  King  of 
France,  which  were  yellow  and  red.  After  these  came 
ten  mules,  covered  with  yellow  satin  with  red  stripes 
across,  and  lastly,  ten  more  covered  with  striped  cloth 
of  gold,  on  which  smooth  and  rough  stripes  alternated. 

Behind  the  sixty -eight  mules  which  led  the  way,  six¬ 
teen  noble  war  horses  came  prancing  along,  led  by  as 
many  grooms,  walking  beside  them  ;  they  were  followed 
by  eighteen  hunters,  ridden  by  pages  of  fourteen  or 
fifteen  years,  sixteen  of  them  being  dressed  in  crimson 
velvet  and  two  in  cloth  of  gold.  (The  costume  of  these 
last  was  so  rich  and  costly  that  it  gave  rise,  if  we  may 
believe  Brantome,  to  grave  suspicions  in  every  mind  as 
to  the  reason  for  the  manifest  favoritism  shown  the  two 
children,  who  were  far  handsomer  than  any  of  the 
others.)  Behind  these  eighteen  horses  came  six  beauti¬ 
ful  mules  with  harnesses  of  red  velvet,  driven  by  six 
footmen  dressed  in  velvet  like  that  of  which  the  harness 
was  made. 

The  third  division  was  headed  by  two  mules  covered 
with  cloth  of  gold,  each  bearing  two  chests  which  were 
said  to  contain  the  duke’s  treasure  and  the  precious 
gems  he  was  bringing  to  the  bride  he  hoped  to  win,  as 
well  as  the  sacred  relics  and  the  bulls  which  his  father 
had  placed  in  his  hands  to  be  delivered  to  his  good  friend, 
Louis  XII.  They  were  followed  by  twenty  gentlemen, 
arrayed  in  cloth  of  gold  and  silver,  among  whom  were 


THE  BORGIAS.  149 

Paolo  Giordano  Orsino,  and  other  knights  and  nobles 
of  the  States  of  the  Church. 

Next  came  two  tabors,  a  rebec,  and  four  soldiers  play¬ 
ing  upon  silver  bugles  ;  and  following  them,  surrounded 
by  twenty-four  servants  clad  in  a  parti-colored  livery  of 
crimson  velvet  and  yellow  silk,  were  Messire  Georges 
d’Amboise  and  Monseigneur  le  Due  de  Valentinois ; 
the  latter  arrayed  in  red  satin  and  cloth  of  gold  thickly 
studded  with  pearls  and  brilliants ;  on  his  cap  was  a 
double  row  of  rubies  as  large  as  beans,  which  emitted 
as  brilliant  and  rich  a  light  as  the  carbuncles  of  which 
we  read  in  the  Thousand  and  One  Nights ;  he  wore 
around  his  neck  a  necklace  worth  two  hundred  thousand 
francs,  and  there  was  not  one  portion  of  his  attire,  even 
to  his  boots,  which  was  not  trimmed  or  laced  with  gold 
thread  and  studded  with  pearls.  He  bestrode  a  superb 
steed  of  great  size,  magnificently  caparisoned  and  with 
a  breastplate  of  golden  leaves  of  superb  workmanship, 
from  among  which  bouquets  of  pearls  and  clusters  of 
rubies  sprung  forth  like  flowers. 

The  rear  of  this  gorgeous  cortege  was  closed  by 
twenty-four  mules  in  red  trappings,  adorned  with  the 
duke’s  arms  and  laden  with  silver  plate,  tents  and 
baggage. 

But  the  one  circumstance  which  more  than  any  other 
imparted  to  the  whole  spectacle  an  air  of  reckless  and 
unheard  of  extravagance,  was  that  all  the  mules  and 
horses  were  shod  with  golden  shoes,  so  insecurely  fast¬ 
ened  that  three-fourths  of  them  remained  on  the  road. 
Caesar  was  much  censured  for  his  insolence  in  thus 
debasing  the  metal  of  which  kings’  crowns  are  made  by 
placing  it  upon  his  horses’  feet. 

However,  all  this  pomp  and  magnificence  utterly 
failed  of  its  effect  upon  her  for  whose  benefit  it  was 


THE  BORGIAS. 


150  ’ 

displayed.  When  Donna  Carlotta  was  informed  that  it 
was  the  hope  of  becoming  her  husband  that  had  brought 
Caesar  Borgia  to  France,  she  replied  simply  that  she 
would  never  take  to  husband  a  man  who  was  not  only  a 
priest  himself,  but  the  son  of  a  priest ;  not  only  an 
assassin,  but  a  fratricide,  and  infamous  not  only  by  the 
very  circumstances  of  his  birth,  but  by  his  morals  and 
his  foul  deeds. 

But,  in  default  of  the  haughty  Aragonese  princess, 
Caesar  soon  found  another  of  noble  blood,  who  consented 
to  become  his  wife.  She  was  Mademoiselle  d’Albret, 
daughter  of  the  King  of  Navarre.  The  marriage,  the 
conditions  whereof  were  that  the  pope  should  give  two 
hundred  thousand  ducats  to  the  bride  by  way  of  dowry 
and  should  make  her  brother  a  cardinal,  was  celebrated 
on  May  10th.  On  the  day  of  Pentecost  following,  the 
Due  de  Yalentinois  received  the  collar  of  the  Order  of 
Saint-Michel,  which  was  founded  by  Louis  XI.,  and 
was,  at  that  time,  the  most  highly  considered  of  all 
those  in  the  gift  of  the  King  of  France. 

The  news  of  this  marriage,  which  ensured  the  alliance 
of  Louis  XII.,  was  received  by  the  pope  with  great 
satisfaction,  and  he  at  once  ordered  a  general  illumina¬ 
tion  and  display  of  fireworks  throughout  the  city. 

Louis  XII.,  in  addition  to  his  gratitude  to  the  pope 
for  annulling  his  marriage  with  Madame  Jeanne  de 
France  and  assenting  to  his  union  with  Anne  de  Bre¬ 
tagne,  was  influenced  in  his  course  by  the  fact  that  it 
was  absolutely  essential  to  the  success  of  his  designs 
upon  Italy  to  have  the  pope  for  his  ally.  He  therefore 
promised  Caesar  that,  as  soon  as  he  should  be  in  posses¬ 
sion  of  Milan,  he  would  place  at  his  disposal  three 
hundred  lances,  to  be  employed  as  he  saw  fit  and  against 
such  persons  as  he  chose,  excepting  always  the  allies  of 


\ 


THE  BORGIAS. 


151 


France.  The  conquest  of  Milan  was  to  be  taken  in 
hand  as  soon  as  Louis  was  assured  of  the  support  or 
even  of  the  neutrality  of  the  Venetians,  to  whom  he 
had  sent  ambassadors  with  power  to  promise  in  his  name 
the  surrender  of  Cremona,  and  of  Ghiera  d’Adda,  as 
soon  as  he  had  conquered  Lombardy. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  everything  on  the  outside 
was  working  favorably  for  the  pushing  policy  of  Alex¬ 
ander  VI.,  when  he  was  suddenly  called  upon  to  turn 
his  eyes  away  from  France,  and  bring  them  back  to  the 
centre  of  Italy.  In  the  heart  of  Florence  there  was  a 
man  with  no  duchy,  no  crown,  not  even  a  sword,  whose 
only  power  was  the  power  of  his  intellect,  whose  only 
armor  his  purity  of  soul,  and  whose  only  offensive 
weapon  his  voice  ;  and  that  man  was  beginning  to  be  a 
more  formidable  enemy  to  the  pope  than  all  the  kings, 
dukes  or  princes  on  earth  were  likely  to  be.  It  was  the 
poor  Dominican  monk,  Girolamo  Savonarola,  the  same 
who  refused  absolution  to  Lorenze  dei  Medici  because 
he  refused  to  restore  the  independence  of  his  native 
country. 

Girolamo  Savonarola  predicted  that  the  nations  be¬ 
yond  the  Alps  would  come  over  into  Italy,  and  Charles 
VIII.  came  and  conquered  Naples ;  he  predicted  that 
Charles  VIII.  was  threatened  by  a  great  calamity,  be¬ 
cause  he  failed  to  fulfill  the  mission  of  deliverer  which 
he  received  from  God,  and  Charles  VIII.  was  dead ;  and 
last  of  all,  like  him  who  for  eight  days  walked  about  the 
holy  city,  crying  :  “  Woe  unto  thee,  O  Jerusalem !  ”  and 
on  the  ninth  day  cried:  “Woe  unto  myself,”  so  did 
Savonarola  predict  his  own  destruction.  But  it  was  not 
in  his  nature  to  flinch  from  danger,  and  his  resolution  to 
attack  the  colossus  of  abomination  seated  in  the  chair 
of  St.  Peter,  did  not  abate  one  whit.  To  each  new 


152 


THE  BORGIAS. 


scandal,  to  each  new  crime,  whether  it  was  shamelessly 
proclaimed  in  the  light  of  day,  or  tried  to  hide  its  head 
in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  he  never  failed  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  people,  and  to  discharge  his  anathema 
at  the  offspring  of  bestial  passion,  or  of  the  pontiff’s 
ambition. 

Thus  he  branded  with  his  scathing  censure  the  latest 
amour  of  Alexander  with  Giulia  Farnese,  who  added  a 
son  to  his  numerous  family  in  the  month  of  April ;  and 
called  down  the  curse  of  heaven  upon  the  murder  of  the 
Duke  of  Gandia,  that  wicked  fratricide  caused  by  the 
jealousy  of  an  incestuous  lover.  He  pointed  out  to  his 
compatriots,  who  were  not  admitted  to  the  league  then 
in  process  of  formation,  what  fate  they  might  expect, 
when  the  Borgias,  having  made  themselves  masters  of 
all  the  little  principalities,  should  turn  their  attention  to 
the  duchies  and  republics.  Thus  Alexander  found  that 
he  had  in  him  a  secular  no  less  than  a  spiritual  foe,  and 
one  whose  persistent  and  threatening  voice  must  be 
hushed  at  any  price. 

Vast  as  the  pope’s  power  was,  it  was  by  no  means  a 
trifling  task  to  accomplish.  Savonarola,  who  preached 
the  doctrine  of  liberty  in  its  strictest  form,  had  formed 
a  considerable  party  known  by  the  name  of  Piangioni 
or  Penitents ,  in  the  very  heart  of  wealthy  and  dissolute 
Florence.  It  was  made  up  of  citizens  who  desired  re¬ 
form  in  both  Church  and  State,  who  accused  the  Medici 
of  having  enslaved  their  country,  and  the  Borgias  of 
having  shaken  the  very  foundations  of  the  faith ;  and 
who  demanded  that  the  republic  should  be  reorganized 
upon  the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  and  that  the 
religion  should  be  restored  to  its  pristine  simplicity.  As 
to  the  first  of  these  points  great  progress  had  already 
been  made,  for,  in  spite  of  the  other  two  factions,  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


153 


Arrabiati  or  Madmen,  which  was  made  up  of  the  richest 
and  noblest  young  patricians  of  Florence,  who  desired 
an  oligarchy,  and  the  Bigi  or  Grays,  who  hoped  for  the 
return  of  the  Medici,  and  who  were  so  called  because 
they  conspired  in  the  dark,  in  spite  of  them  all,  we  say, 
the  Piangioni  had  successively  obtained  an  amnesty  for 
all  crimes  and  offences  committed  under  former  govern¬ 
ments,  the  abolition  of  the  balie ,  which  was  a  privilege 
of  the  aristocracy,  the  establishment  of  a  supreme  coun¬ 
cil  composed  of  eighteen  hundred  citizens,  and  the  sub¬ 
stitution  of  popular  election  for  the  practice  of  drawing 
lots,  or  irresponsible  selection  by  a  few  powerful  men. 

The  first  measure  resorted  to  by  Alexander  against 
the  ever-growing  power  of  Savonarola  was  to  pronounce 
him  a  heretic,  and,  as  such,  to  forbid  him  to  preach ;  but 
Savonarola  avoided  the  effect  of  this  prohibition  by  set¬ 
ting  up  his  disciple  and  friend  Domenico  Bonvicini  of 
Pescia  to  preach  in  his  stead.  The  result  was  simply 
that  the  master’s  precepts  issued  from  other  lips — noth¬ 
ing  more — and  the  seed,  although  sown  by  a  different 
hand,  fell  none  the  less  in  soil  that  was  of  amazing  fer¬ 
tility  and  quick  to  give  it  fruition.  • 

Furthermore  Savonarola,  establishing  the  precedent 
which  Luther  followed  so  successfully  twenty-two  years 
later,  when  he  burned  at  Wittemberg  the  bull  of  ex- 
communication  promulgated  by  Leo  X.,  soon  wearied  of 
keeping  silent,  and  on  the  authority  of  Pope  Pelagius 
declared  that  an  unjust  excommunication  was  utterly 
inefficacious,  and  that  he  against  whom  it  was  directed 
need  not  even  take  the  pains  to  be  relieved  from  it.  He 
therefore  announced,  on  Christmas  Day,  1497,  that  the 
Lord  had  commanded  him  to  throw  aside  his  allegiance, 
in  view  of  the  corruption  of  the  master,  and  began  again 
to  preach  at  the  Cathedral,  with  greater  success  than 


154 


THE  BORGIAS. 


ever  for  the  very  reason  that  his  sermons  had  been  inter¬ 
rupted,  and  with  effects  which  were  the  more  formidable 
for  being  founded  upon  the  sympathy  which  is  always 
inspired  in  the  masses  by  unjust  persecution. 

Thereupon,  in  order  to  enforce  his  prohibition,  Alex¬ 
ander  applied  to  Leonardo  dei  Medici,  vicar  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Florence,  who,  in  obedience  to  orders 
from  Rome,  issued  a  mandate  forbidding  the  faithful  to 
attend  Savonarola’s  preaching.  According  to  the  terms 
of  this  mandate,  those  who  listened  to  the  words  of  the 
excommunicate  would  not  be  admitted  to  confession  or 
communion,  and  when  they  died,  inasmuch  as  they 
would  be  tainted  with  heresy  because  of  their  spiritual 
intercourse  with  a  heretic,  their  bodies  would  be  drawn 
upon  hurdles,  and  denied  Christian  burial. 

Savonarola  appealed  from  his  spiritual  superior  to  the 
people  and  to  the  seignorial  body,  and  those  two  powers, 
acting  in  unison,  ordered  the  archbishop’s  vicar  to  leave 
Florence  within  two  hours.  This  occurred  in  the  early 
part  of  1498. 

The  expulsion  of  Leonardo  dei  Medici  was  a  signal 
triumph  for  Savonarola.  Determined,  as  ever,  to  em¬ 
ploy  his  increasing  influence  in  the  direction  of  greater 
purity  of  morals,  he  resolved  to  change  the  last  day  of 
the  carnival,  a  day  always  theretofore  given  over  to 
worldly  pleasure,  into  a  day  of  prayer  and  contrition. 
The  result  was  that  on  Mardi  Gras  a  great  number  of 
young  children  assembled  in  front  of  the  Cathedral,  and 
there  separated  into  small  groups,  who  went  from  house 
to  house  throughout  the  city,  seeking  out  profane  books, 
lewd  pictures,  lutes  and  harps,  playing  cards  and  dice, 
cosmetics  and  perfumery,  and  all  the  thousand  and  one 
products  of  a  corrupt  society  and  civilization,  with  the 
aid  of  which  Satan  sometimes  wages  war  so  successfully 


THE  BORGIAS. 


155 


upon  God.  And  tlie  good  people  of  Florence,  hearken¬ 
ing  to  the  childish  voices,  brought  to  the  Palazzo  di 
Duomo  all  these  works  of  perdition,  of  which  there  was 
soon  an  enormous  pile.  To  this  the  youthful  reformers 
set  fire,  singing  psalms  and  hymns  the  while.  There 
were  burned  a  great  number  of  copies  of  Boccaccio, 
and  the  Morgante  Maggiore,  and  quantities  of  paintings 
by  Fra  Bartolomeo,  who,  from  that  day,  renounced 
worldly  subjects  to  devote  his  brush  entirely  to  the 
delineation  of  religious  scenes. 

Such  symptoms  of  reform  were  alarming  in  the  ex¬ 
treme  to  Alexander  and  he  resolved  to  fight  Savonarola 
with  his  own  principal  weapon,  eloquence.  He  selected 
to  take  the  field  against  him  a  preacher  of  acknowledged 
talent,  named  Francesco  di  Puglia,  and  despatched  him 
to  Florence,  where  he  began  to  declaim  against  Savon¬ 
arola  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Croce,  charging  him  with 
heresy  and  impiety.  At  the  same  time  the  pope  sent  to 
the  seignorial  body  a  letter  in  which  he  declared  that  if 
they  did  not  interdict  the  heresiarch  from  preaching,  all 
the  property  of  Florentine  merchants  in  the  papal 
dominions  would  be  confiscated  and  the  republic  itself 
laid  under  interdict,  and  declared  to  be  the  spiritual 
and  temporal  enemy  of  the  Church. 

The  seignorial  body,  abandoned  by  France,  and 
alarmed  beyond  measure  by  the  rapid  growth  of  the 
secular  power  of  Rome,  was  forced  to  yield,  and  inti¬ 
mated  to  Savonarola  that  he  must  cease  to  preach.  He 
obeyed,  and  took  leave  of  his  hearers  in  a  discourse  re¬ 
markable  for  lofty  eloquence  and  firm  adhesion  to  the 
principles  he  had  struggled  so  hard  to  make  prevail. 

Savonarola’s  retirement,  however,  instead  of  allaying 
the  agitation,  served  only  to  augment  it ;  people  talked 
of  the  fulfillment  of  his  prophecies,  and  sectaries  more 


156 


i 


THE  BORGIA& 


fervent  than  their  master,  magnifying  his  inspiration 
into  the  power  to  perform  miracles,  proclaimed  that 
Savonarola  had  offered  to  go  down  into  the  crypt  of  the 
cathedral  with  his  antagonist  and  to  prove  that  his  was 
the  true  doctrine  by  raising  the  dead,  promising  at  the 
same  time  to  confess  that  he  was  vanquished  if  the 
miracle  should  be  performed  by  his  opponent.  This 
assertion  came  to  the  ears  of  Francesco  di  Puglia  and, 
as  he  was  one  of  those  ardent  spirits  who  make  no 
account  of  life  when  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives  may  be 
beneficial  to  their  cause,  he  declared,  in  all  humility, 
that  he  looked  upon  himself  as  too  great  a  sinner  to 
hope  that  God  would  confer  upon  him  the  power  to 
perform  a  miracle ;  but  he  challenged  Savonarola  to  a 
test  of  a  different  sort,  by  proposing  that  they  should 
stand  together  at  the  stake.  He  knew  that  he  should 
perish  in  the  flames,  he  said,  but  he  would,  at  least, 
avenge  the  sacred  cause  of  the  religion,  because  he  was 
sure  that  the  tempter  who  had  enticed  so  many  souls 
away  to  their  eternal  damnation  would  perish  with 
him. 

This  proposition  was  reported  to  Savonarola,  but  as 
he  was  not  responsible  for  the  first  challenge  he  hesitated 
to  accept  the  second.  His  disciple,  Brother  Domenico 
Bonvicini,  however,  more  confident  than  himself  in  his 
own  power,  declared  that  he  was  ready  to  accept  the 
trial  by  fire  in  his  master’s  place,  being  well  assured  that 
God  would  perform  a  miracle  at  the  intercession  of  His 
prophet.  On  the  instant  the  news  that  the  mortal  chal¬ 
lenge  was  accepted  ran  like  wildfire  all  over  Florence. 
Savonarola’s  partisans,  who  were  all  men  of  deep  con¬ 
victions,  had  no  doubt  of  the  triumph  of  their  cause. 
His  enemies,  on  the  other  hand,  were  enchanted  to  have 
a  heretic  voluntarily  consent  to  stand  at  the  stake ;  and 


THE  BORGIAS.  157 

those  who  were  indifferent  foresaw  in  the  approaching 
trial  a  spectacle  of  engrossing  and  horrific  interest. 

But  the  self-sacrificing  devotion  of  Brother  Bonvicini 
of  Pescia  did  not  meet  the  views  of  Brother  Francesco 
di  Puglia ;  he  was  willing  to  die  a  horrible  death,  but 
only  on  condition  that  Savonarola  should  share  it  with 
him.  What  cared  he  for  the  death  of  so  obscure  a 
disciple  as  Brother  Bonvicini  ?  It  was  the  master  whom 
he  desired  to  reach,  the  originator  and  chief  exponent 
of  the  heretical  doctrine,  whom  it  was  necessary  to 
involve  in  his  own  destruction.  He  declared,  therefore, 
that  his  challenge  was  to  Savonarola  alone  and  that  he 
could  by  no  means  agree  to  play  this  terrible  game  in 
person  while  his  adversary  played  by  proxy. 

Thereupon  something  happened  which  could  hardly 
have  been  anticipated ;  two  Francescan  monks  entered 
the  lists  to  contend  with  the  disciple  in  the  stead  of 
Brother  Francesco  di  Puglia,  who  refused  to  break  a 
lance  with  any  but  the  master.  They  were  Brother 
Nicolas  Pilly  and  Brother  Andrea  Rondinelli.  The 
partisans  of  Savonarola,  when  their  antagonist  was  thus 
reinforced,  at  once  came  forward  in  crowds  to  offer  to 
submit  to  the  test.  The  Francescans  would  not  be  out¬ 
done,  and  every  one  espoused  the  one  side  or  the  other, 
all  with  equal  ardor.  Florence  seemed  transformed  into 
a  retreat  for  madmen ;  everyone  was  crying  aloud  for 
an  opportunity  to  stand  in  the  fire,  and  soon  it  was  not 
the  men  alone  who  were  flinging  challenges  at  each 
other,  but  women  and  mere  children  were  clamoring  to 
make  the  experiment. 

At  last  the  seignorial  body,  preserving  the  rights  of 
the  two  who  had  first  joined  issue,  decreed  that  the 
strange  duel  should  take  place  between  Domenico 
Bonvicini  and  Andrea  Rondinelli,  the  details  to  be 


158 


THE  BORGIAS. 


arranged  by  ten  citizens.  The  day  fixed  for  the  spec¬ 
tacle  was  the  seventh  of  April,  1498,  and  the  place  the 
palace  square. 

The  judges  of  the  lists  made  their  arrangements  like 
men  of  experience.  A  scaffolding  five  feet  high,  ten 
wide,  and  eighty  long  was  erected  at  the  selected  spot. 
Upon  this  scaffolding,  which  was  all  covered  with 
branches  and  underbrush,  kept  in  place  by  low  fences 
made  of  the  driest  wood  obtainable,  they  had  made  two 
paths,  two  feet  wide  at  the  most,  and  seventy  feet  long, 
the  entrance  to  them  being  at  the  end  next  the  Loggia 
dei  Lanzi,  and  the  exit  at  the  other  end.  The  Loggia 
itself  was  cut  in  two  by  a  partition,  so  that  each  cham¬ 
pion  could  have  a  sort  of  room  to  himself  to  make  his 
preparations,  just  as  every  actor  at  the  theatre  has  his 
dressing-room ;  but  in  this  case  the  tragedy  to  be 
enacted  was  no  fictitious  one. 

The  Franciscans  came  upon  the  square  and  entered 
the  part  set  aside  for  them  without  any  religious  demon¬ 
stration,  while  Savonarola,  on  the  other  hand,  led  the 
procession  of  his  followers,  clad  in  the  priestly  garb  in 
which  he  was  wont  to  celebrate  the  sacrament,  and  hold¬ 
ing  aloft  the  consecrated  host,  which  every  bystander 
might  see  as  the  structure  which  contained  it  was  of 
crystal. 

Brother  Dominico  of  Pescea,  the  hero  of  the  occasion, 
followed  him,  crucifix  in  hand,  and  all  the  Dominican 
monks  marched  behind  him,  each  with  a  red  cross,  sing¬ 
ing  psalms.  Behind  the  monks  came  the  most  consider¬ 
able  citizens  of  their  faction  with  torches  in  their  hands ; 
for  they  were  so  sure  of  the  triumph  of  their  cause  that 
they  proposed  to  set  fire  to  the  pile  themselves.  The 
square  itself  was  so  densely  thronged  that  the  crowd 
overflowed  into  all  the  adjoining  streets.  At  doors  and 


THE  BORGIAS. 


159 


windows  nothing  could  be  seen  but  a  sea  of  heads ;  the 
roofs  were  black  with  people,  and  some  eager  sight-seers 
had  climbed  even  to  the  roof  of  the  Duomo,  and  the 
platform  of  the  Campanile. 

When  brought  face  to  face  with  the  test  the  Francis¬ 
cans  raised  so  many  obstacles  that  it  was  clear  that  their 
champion  was  beginning  to  weaken.  The  first  suspicion 
to  which  they  gave  expression  was  that  Brother  Bonvi- 
cini  might  be  a  wizard,  and  have  upon  him  some  talis¬ 
man  or  charm  to  protect  him  against  fire.  They  de¬ 
manded,  therefore,  that  he  should  be  stripped  and  re¬ 
quired  to  put  on  other  clothes  which  had  been  inspected 
by  disinterested  witnesses.  Brother  Bonvicini  made  no 
objection  whatever,  insulting  as  the  suspicion  was,  but 
changed  his  shirt  and  gown  and  frock. 

When  Savonarola  handed  the  host  to  his  champion, 
the  Franciscans  at  once  protested  that  it  was  a  profana¬ 
tion  to  expose  the  holy  sacrament  to  the  danger  of  burn¬ 
ing  ;  that  it  was  not  included  in  the  agreement,  and 
unless  Bonvicini  would  consent  to  do  without  that  super¬ 
natural  assistance,  they  would  refuse  to  undertake  the 
test.  Savonarola  replied  that  for  the  champion,  whose 
trust  was  in  God,  to  carry  in  his  hand  the  same  God  to 
whom  he  looked  for  preservation,  was  surely  not  unnatu¬ 
ral.  This  reply  did  not  satisfy  the  Franciscans  who 
refused  to  recede  from  their  claim.  Savonarola  was 
equally  inflexible  in  insisting  on  his  right,  and  after 
four  hours  passed  in  profitless  discussion,  no  progress 
toward  an  agreement  had  been  made. 

Meanwhile,  the  people,  who  had  been  since  daybreak 
crowded  together  in  the  streets,  and  on  roofs  and  chim¬ 
ney  tops,  suffering  from  hunger  and  thirst,  began  to  lose 
patience,  and  their  impatience  manifested  itself  in  mut- 
terings  of  discontent  which  came  to  the  ears  of  the 


160 


THE  BORGIAS. 


champions;  whereupon  the  partisans  of  Savonarola, 
certain  that  a  miracle  would  happen,  so  great  was  their 
faith  in  him,  besought  him  to  grant  whatever  was 
demanded.  To  this  he  replied  that  if  he  were  himself 
to  submit  to  the  test,  he  might  be  more  compliant,  but 
as  it  was  another’s  life  which  was  in  danger  he  could  not 
take  too  many  precautions. 

Two  hours  more  elapsed  in  vain  attempts  on  the  part 
of  his  supporters  to  induce  him  to  reconsider  his  refusal. 
At  last,  as  it  began  to  grow  dark,  and  the  dissatisfaction 
of  the  people  became  more  and  more  demonstrative,  even 
to  the  point  of  threatening,  Bonvicini  declared  that  he 
was  prepared  to  walk  through  the  fire  with  naught  but 
a  crucifix  in  his  hand.  This  privilege  could  not  in 
reason  be  denied  him,  so  Brother  Rondinelli  was  fain  to 
accept  the  proposition. 

Announcement  was  thereupon  made  to  the  people  that 
the  champions  had  come  to  an  agreement,  and  that  the 
trial  would  take  place  at  once.  The  crowd  at  once 
calmed  down,  hoping  to  be  rewarded  at  last  for  their 
long  period  of  waiting :  but  at  that  moment  a  storm, 
which  had  been  long  gathering,  burst  over  their  heads 
with  such  violence  that  the  fire  which  had  just  been 
lighted  was  extinguished  in  an  instant,  and  it  was  im¬ 
possible  to  light  it  again. 

The  crowd  at  once  concluded  that  they  had  been  fooled 
and  their  enthusiasm  changed  to  contempt.  As  they 
knew  nothing  of  the  source  of  the  obstacles  which  de¬ 
layed  the  trial,  they  laid  the  responsibility  at  the  door 
of  both  champions  without  distinction. 

The  seignorial  body,  anticipating  that  there  would  be 
more  or  less  disorder,  ordered  the  dense  crowds  to  dis¬ 
perse  ;  they  did  nothing  of  the  kind,  however,  but 
remained  upon  the  square,  notwithstanding  the  torrents 


THE  BORGIAS. 


161 


of  rain  which  fell,  awaiting  the  appearance  of  the  cham¬ 
pions.  Rondinelli  was  escorted  from  the  square,  amid  a 
tempest  of  jeers  and  a  brisk  volley  of  stones.  Savona¬ 
rola,  howTever,  thanks  to  his  priestly  attire,  and  the  Holy 
Sacrament  which  he  held  in  his  hand,  passed  calmly  and 
without  molestation  through  the  thickest  of  the  crowd — 
a  miracle  as  worthy  of  note  as  if  he  had  passed  unhurt 
through  the  blazing  pile. 

But  it  was  the  majesty  of  the  host,  and  that  alone, 
which  protected  the  man,  who  from  that  moment  was 
looked  upon  as  a  false  prophet ;  and  the  mob,  spurred 
on  by  the  Arrabiati,  who,  had  for  a  long  while  stigma¬ 
tized  Savonarola  as  a  liar  and  hypocrite,  were  very  loth 
to  allow  him  to  return  safely  to  his  convent.  And  so,  on 
the  next  day,  being  Palm  Sunday,  when  he  ascended  the 
pulpit  to  explain  his  conduct,  hooting  and  ironical 
laughter  and  insults  assailed  him  on  all  sides  and  he 
could  not  obtain  silence  for  a  single  instant.  Soon  the 
shouts  which  were  simply  mocking  at  first,  became 
threatening ;  Savonarola,  whose  voice  was  too  weak  to 
rise  above  the  uproar,  left  the  pulpit,  and  withdrew  to 
the  sacristy,  whence  he  returned  to  his  convent,  and 
shut  himself  up  in  his  cell. 

Suddenly  a  shout  arose  from  the  crowd  and  was  re¬ 
peated  by  every  one  within  hearing  : — 

“To  Saint  Mark’s !  To  Saint  Mark’s  !  ” 

This  nucleus  of  insurrection  was  reinforced  by  all 
the  people  on  its  way  through  the  streets,  and  when  it 
reached  the  convent  surged  back  and  forth  against  the 
walls,  like  the  rising  tide  upon  the  rocks.  Soon  the 
gates,  which  were  closed  when  the  mob  appeared,  gave 
way  before  the  mighty  strength  of  the  multitude  which 
grinds  to  dust  at  the  instant  of  contact  whatsoever  it 
touches.  The  plebeian  flood  scattered  over  all  parts  of 

Vol.  II.— 11. 


162 


THE  BORGIAS. 


the  convent  in  a  second,  and  Savonarola,  and  his  two 
disciples,  Domenico  Bonvicini  and  Silvestro  Maruffi, 
were  seized  in  their  cells,  and  carried  off  to  prison,  amid 
the  jeers  and  insults  of  the  populace,  who,  as  unreason¬ 
able  in  their  hatred  as  in  their  enthusiasm,  would  have 
liked  to  tear  them  in  pieces,  and  whose  fury  was  soothed 
only  by  the  promise  that  the  prisoners  should  be  compelled 
by  force  to  undergo  the  trial  which  they  had  refused  to 
undergo  voluntarily. 

Alexander  VI.,  whose  influence  we  may  be  sure  was 
largely  responsible  for  this  sudden  change  in  the  aspect 
of  affairs,  although  he  was  not  on  the  spot,  had  no  sooner 
learned  of  the  disgrace  and  arrest  of  Savonarola  than  he 
laid  claim  to  him  as  amenable  to  ecclesiastical  jurisdic¬ 
tion.  But  the  seignorial  body  were  proof  against  the 
offers  of  indulgences  with  which  the  pope’s  demand  was 
accompanied,  and  insisted  that  the  proceedings  against 
the  Dominican  should  be  instituted  at  Florence ;  but, 
to  avoid  the  appearance  of  removing  the  culprit  alto¬ 
gether  from  the  pontifical  jurisdiction,  they  requested 
his  Holiness  to  name  two  judges  to  sit  with  the  Floren¬ 
tine  tribunal.  Alexander  saw  that  he  could  not  hope  to 
obtain  anything  more  from  the  magnificent  republic,  so 
he  sent  Giacomo  Turriano  of  Venice,  General  of  the 
Dominicans,  and  Francesco  Ramolini,  doctor  of  laws ; 
they  were  duly  instructed  beforehand  that  the  judgment 
they  were  to  deliver  must  declare  Savonarola  and  his 
accomplices  guilty  of  heresy  and  schism,  of  persecuting 
holy  church,  and  leading  the  people  astray. 

The  sequel  proved  that  the  obstinacy  of  the  Floren¬ 
tines  in  asserting  their  rights  was  mere  bombast  to  save 
appearances.  The  court  was  made  up  of  eight  mem¬ 
bers,  all  known  to  be  bitter  enemies  of  Savonarola,  and 
the  proceedings  began  by  putting  him  to  the  question. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


163 


His  constitution  was  so  weak  and  his  temperament  so 
nervous  and  irritable,  that  he  could  not  endure  the  tor¬ 
ture  of  the  cord,  and  the  agony  was  so  great,  when  the 
executioner,  after  raising  him  high  in  the  air  by  the 
wrists  let  him  fall  back  to  within  two  feet  of  the  ground, 
that  he  confessed  that  his  prophecies  were  mere  conjee- ! 
tures,  hoping  thereby  to  obtain  a  brief  respite.  To  be 
sure,  as  soon  as  he  returned  to  his  cell,  he  protested  that 
his  confession  was  a  fabrication  extorted  from  him  by 
his  bodily  weakness,  and  his  cowardice  under  torture ; 
and  that  the  real  truth  of  the  matter  was  that  the  Lord 
had  several  times  appeared  to  him  during  his  trances, 
and  revealed  to  him  the  things  he  had  predicted. 

This  protest  led  to  a  further  application  of  the  torture, 
and  Savonarola  again  succumbed  to  the  excruciating 
pain,  and  retracted.  But  the  instant  the  cords  were 
removed,  and  while  he  was  still  lying  on  the  mattress  in 
the  torture  chamber,  he  declared  that  his  admissions 
were  the  work  of  his  executioners,  and  would  recoil 
upon  their  heads ;  and  that  he  protested  once  more 
against  the  acceptance  of  anything  that  he  might  have 
said  or  might  thereafter  say.  A  third  time  the  question 
extorted  similar  admissions,  and  in  the  period  of  repose 
which  followed  he  retracted  as  before.  The  result  of  it 
all  was  that  the  judges,  after  they  had  sentenced  him 
and  his  two  disciples  to  be  burned  at  the  stake,  decided 
that  his  confession  should  not  be  read  aloud,  as  the  cus¬ 
tom  was,  when  the  sentence  was  carried  into  effect,  for 
they  knew  full  well  that  he  would  give  the  lie  to  it  again 
as  he  had  done  before ;  and  a  contradiction  in  public 
from  his  own  lips  might  have  a  most  disastrous  effect, 
in  view  of  the  well-known  fickleness  of  the  populace. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  May  the  wood  was  again  piled  up 
on  the  square  of  the  palace,  and  the  multitude  assembled 


164 


THE  BORGIAS. 


once  more,  certain  that  they  were  not  again  to  be 
defrauded  of  the  spectacle  for  which  they  had  waited  so 
long.  At  eleven  o’clock  in  the  morning,  Jerome  Savo¬ 
narola,  Domenico  Bonvicini,  and  Silvestro  Maruffi,  were 
brought  to  the  place  of  execution,  and  having  first  been 
degraded  from  holy  orders  by  the  ecclesiastical  judges, 
were  all  bound  to  the  same  stake  in  the  centre  of  a  huge 
pile  of  wood. 

Bishop  Pagnanoli  then  announced  to  the  condemned 
men  that  they  were  divorced  from  the  Church. 

“From  the  Church  militant?”  queried  Savonarola, 
who  was  on  the  point  of  entering  into  the  Church  trium¬ 
phant  by  virtue  of  his  martyrdom. 

No  other  words  were  spoken  by  either  of  the  victims ; 
for  at  that  moment,  one  of  the  Arrabiati ,  a  personal 
enemy  of  Savonarola,  passed  through  the  hedge  of 
guards  around  the  scaffold,  snatched  the  torch  from  the 
executioner’s  hands,  and  himself  set  fire  to  the  four 
corners  of  the  pile.  Savonarola  and  his  disciples,  as 
soon  as  the  smoke  began  to  rise,  began  to  intone  a  psalm, 
and  even  after  they  were  completely  enveloped  in  a  veil 
of  fierce  flame  their  voices  could  still  be  heard,  singing 
the  blessed  words,  which  were  to  cause  heaven’s  gates 
to  open  for  them. 

Thus  was  Alexander  VI.  freed  from  the  most  redoubt¬ 
able  foe  that  ever  rose  up  against  him ;  but  his  thirst 
for  vengeance  pursued  him  beyond  the  gates  of  death. 
The  seignorial  body,  yielding  to  his  instances,  ordered 
the  ashes  of  the  prophet  and  his  disciples  to  be  thrown 
into  the  Arno ;  but  some  half-burned  bones  were  picked 
up  by  the  soldiers  who  were  stationed  about  the  pile  to 
keep  the  mob  away,  and  these  blessed  relics  all  blackened 
by  flame  and  smoke  are  exhibited  to  this  day  for  the 
edification  of  the  faithful,  who  look  upon  Savonarola  as 


THE  BORGIA.S. 


165 


a  martyr  to  the  faith  that  was  in  him,  even  though  he  is 
no  longer  looked  upon  as  a  prophet. 

Meanwhile  the  French  army  was  preparing  to  cross 
the  Alps  a  second  time  under  the  command  of  Jacques 
Trivulce.  Louis  XII.  went  as  far  as  Lyons  with  Caesar 
Borgia  and  Giulio  della  Rovere,  whom  he  had  forced  to 
become  reconciled  to  each  other,  and  in  the  early  days 
of  May  he  sent  the  vanguard  on  ahead,  soon  followed 
by  the  main  body  of  the  army. 

The  French  force  collected  for  this  second  conquest 
consisted  of  sixteen  hundred  lances,  five  thousand  Swiss, 
four  thousand  Gascons,  and  thirty-five  hundred  infantry, 
levied  in  all  parts  of  France. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  August,  the  whole  force,  amount¬ 
ing  to  nearly  fifteen  thousand  men,  who  were  to  act  in 
concert  with  the  Venetians,  arrived  under  the  walls  of 
Arezzo,  and  at  once  laid  siege  to  the  town. 

Ludovico  Sforza  was  in  a  terrible  plight,  and  was  pay¬ 
ing  in  full  the  penalty  of  his  imprudence  in  inviting  the 
French  into  Italy  in  the  first  instance.  All  the  allies 
upon  whom  he  thought  that  he  could  rely  for  help  failed 
him  at  the  critical  moment,  either  because  thev  were  en- 
grossed  with  their  own  affairs,  or  because  they  were 
alarmed  at  the  approach  of  the  powerful  enemy  whom 
the  Duke  of  Milan  had  made  for  himself.  Maximilian, 
who  had  promised  to  send  him  four  hundred  lances,  in¬ 
stead  of  resuming  hostile  operations  against  Louis  XII., 
formed  a  league  with  the  Circle  of  Suabia  to  make  war 
upon  the  Swiss  whom  he  had  declared  to  be  in  rebellion 
against  the  empire.  The  Florentines,  who  had  promised 
him  three  hundred  men-at-arms,  and  two  thousand  in¬ 
fantry,  if  he  would  assist  them  to  recapture  Pisa,  re¬ 
ceded  from  their  promise  under  pressure  of  the  threats 


166 


THE  BORGIAS. 


made  by  Louis  XII.,  and  promised  that  sovereign  to 
observe  strict  neutrality.  Lastly,  Frederic  broke  his 
word,  and  sent  him  neither  money  nor  men,  preferring  to 
keep  his  troops  to  guard  his  own  dominions,  because 
he  reasoned,  and  justly,  that  if  Milan  were  conquered  he 
would  be  obliged  to  defend  Naples  against  a  new  invasion. 

Ludovico  Sforza,  therefore,  was  thrown  back  upon  his 
own  resources.  But  as  he  was  an  able  general,  and  an 
adept  in  political  strategy,  he  did  not  give  up  the  game 
at  once.  He  fortified  Annona,  Novara  and  Alexandria 
with  the  utmost  diligence,  sent  Cajazzo  with  a  small 
force  into  those  parts  of  the  Milanais  which  bordered  on 
the  Venetian  frontier,  and  massed  his  remaining  troops 
upon  the  Po.  But  his  measures  were  of  no  avail  against 
the  impetuous  advance  of  the  French ;  in  a  few  days 
Arezzo,  Annona,  Novara,  Voghiera,  Castelnuovo,  Ponte 
Corona,  Tortona  and  Alexandria  were  taken,  and 
Trivulce  was  marching  upon  Milan. 

This  rapid  succession  of  victories  and  the  near  ap¬ 
proach  of  the  victorious  army,  drove  Sforza,  despairing 
of  his  ability  to  hold  his  capital,  to  the  determination  to 
retire  into  Germany  with  his  children,  his  brother  Car¬ 
dinal  Ascanio,  and  his  treasure,  which  had  fallen  in 
eight  years  from  fifteen  hundred  thousand  ducats  to  two 
hundred  thousand.  Before  his  departure  he  entrusted 
the  defence  of  the  Castle  of  Milan  to  Bernardino  of 
Corte.  In  vain  did  his  friends  urge  him  to  distrust  the 
man ;  in  vain  did  his  brother  Ascanio  offer  to  shut  him¬ 
self  up  in  the  fortress  and  hold  it  to  the  last  extremity. 
Ludovico  refused  to  make  any  change  in  his  arrange¬ 
ments,  and  left  Milan  on  the  second  of  September, 
leaving  in  the  citadel  three  thousand  foot-soldiers,  and 
sufficient  provisions,  ammunition  and  money  to  enable 
them  to  withstand  a  siege  of  several  months. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


167 


Two  days  after  his  departure  the  French  entered 
Milan.  Ten  days  after  that  Bernardino  surrendered 
the  castle  before  a  single  shot  was  fired.  Twenty-one 
days  sufficed  for  the  French  to  gain  possession  of  all  the 
strongholds  of  their  enemy,  including  his  capital  city. 

Louis  XII.  received  the  news  of  the  rapid  success  of 
his  arms  at  Lyons,  and  at  once  set  out  for  Milan,  where 
he  was  welcomed  with  every  indication  of  sincere  satis¬ 
faction.  All  classes  of  the  people  went  out  three  miles 
beyond  the  gates  to  meet  him,  and  forty  children  dressed 
in  silk  and  cloth  of  gold  walked  before  him,  singing 
hymns  written  by  the  poets  of  the  day,  in  which  he  was 
called  the  royal  liberator,  and  the  messenger  of  liberty. 
This  exuberant  joy  on  the  part  of  the  good  people  of 
Milan,  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Louis’  adherents  had 
spread  the  report  that  he  was  rich  enough  to  abolish  all 
imposts.  On  the  day  after  his  arrival  he  made  a  trifling 
reduction  in  them,  bestowed  marks  of  distinguished  favor 
upon  several  Milanese  gentlemen,  and  gave  Trivulce  the 
town  of  Vigavano,  as  a  reward  for  his  glorious  campaign. 

Meanwhile,  Caesar  Borgia,  who  had  followed  Louis  in 
order  not  to  miss  his  share  of  the  Italian  quarry,  did  not 
fail,  as  soon  as  the  king  had  attained  his  end,  to  call 
upon  him  to  fulfil  the  promise  he  had  made  him.  With 
his  proverbial  loyalty  Louis  hastened  to  redeem  his 
pledge,  and  at  once  placed  at  Caesar’s  disposal  three 
hundred  lances,  commanded  by  Yves  d’ Alegre,  and  four 
thousand  Swiss  under  the  Bailly  of  Dijon,  to  assist  him 
in  bringing  to  terms  the  “  vicars  of  the  Church.” 

The  reader  will  pardon  us  if  we  offer  a  word  of  ex¬ 
planation  as  to  the  new  characters  whom  we  are  about 
to  bring  upon  the  stage  under  that  designation. 

During  the  everlasting  wars  of  the  Guelphs  and 
Ghibellines,  and  during  the  long  exile  of  the  popes  at 


168 


i 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Avignon,  the  greater  of  the  towns  and  strongholds  of 
Romagna  were  conquered  or  usurped  by  petty  tyrants, 
who  were,  as  a  general  rule,  invested  with  the  title  to  their 
newly  acquired  dominions  by  the  Empire.  But  as  soon 
as  the  German  influence  was  driven  back  across  the 
mountains,  and  the  popes  made  Rome  once  more  the 
centre  of  Christendom,  all  these  petty  princes,  deprived 
of  their  original  support,  gave  in  their  adhesion  to  the 
Holy  See,  received  fresh  investiture  from  the  pope’s 
hands,  and  paid  him  annual  tribute,  in  return  for  which 
they  received  the  title  of  duke,  count  or  lord,  as  the 
case  might  be,  and  the  general  name  of  “  vicars  of  the 
Church.” 

It  was  a  very  simple  matter  for  Alexander,  by  sub¬ 
jecting  every  act  of  these  gentry  during  the  seven  years 
of  his  pontificate  to  the  most  rigid  scrutiny,  to  find  in 
every  case  some  trifling  infraction  of  the  treaty  between 
them  as  vassals,  and  their  suzerain.  He,  therefore,  pre¬ 
sented  his  grounds  of  complaint  to  a  court  organized  for 
that  purpose,  and  obtained  a  decree  from  the  judges,  to 
the  effect  that  these  vicars  of  the  Church,  having  failed 
to  abide  by  the  conditions  of  their  investiture,  were  de¬ 
prived  of  their  territories  which  reverted  to  the  Holy 
See. 

But  the  pope  had  to  deal  with  men  against  whom  it 
was  much  easier  to  pronounce  such  a  sentence  than  to 
execute  it ;  so  he  appointed  the  recently  created  Due  de 
Yalentinois  his  captain-general,  and  told  him  to  obtain 
possession  of  these  territories  for  himself. 

The  potentates  in  question  were  the  Malatesti  of  Ri¬ 
mini,  the  Sforza  of  Pesaro,  the  Manfredi  of  Faenza,  the 
Eiarii  of  Immola  and  Forli,  the  Varani  of  Camerino, 
the  Montefeltri  of  Urbino,  and  the  Caetani  of  Sermon- 
etta. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


169 


The  Due  de  Valentinois,  in  order  not  to  let  cool  the 
warm  friendship  which  his  relative  and  ally  Louis  XII. 
had  conceived  for  him,  remained  with  him  at  Milan  dur¬ 
ing  his  sojourn  in  that  city.  But  after  a  month  of  per¬ 
sonal  occupation  the  King  of  France  turned  his  face 
homeward  once  more,  and  the  Due  de  Valentinois  at 
once  ordered  his  men-at-arms  and  his  Swiss  to  meet  him 
between  Parma  and  Modena,  and  set  out  in  hot  haste 
for  Rome,  to  lay  his  plans  before  his  father,  and  receive 
his  final  instructions. 

When  he  reached  Rome  he  found  that  his  sister 
Lucrezia’s  power  and  importance  had  increased  greatly 
during  his  absence  ;  not  through  her  husband  Alphonzo, 
whose  future  had  become  extremely  uncertain  since  the 
rapid  success  of  Louis  XII.,  and  whose  relations  with 
Alexander  were  somewhat  strained  in  consequence  ;  but 
through  her  father,  over  whom  her  influence  at  this  time 
was  greater  and  more  inexplicable  than  ever.  He  had 
named  her  governor  for  life  of  Spoleto  and  its  duchy, 
with  all  the  privileges,  emoluments  and  income  pertain¬ 
ing  thereto ;  and  this  appointment  had  so  magnified  her 
power  and  her  position  that  she  never  appeared  in  pub¬ 
lic  except  with  an  escort  of  two  hundred  of  the  most 
illustrious  and  noble  knights  and  ladies  of  Rome.  Fur¬ 
thermore,  as  the  twofold  character  of  the  pope’s  affec¬ 
tion  for  her  was  no  secret  to  anybody,  the  leading 
prelates  of  the  Church,  the  habitues  of  the  Vatican,  and 
the  familiar  friends  of  his  Holiness  were  her  most  hum¬ 
ble  servants ;  so  that  cardinals  assisted  her  to  alight 
from  her  litter  or  her  horse,  and  archbishops  quarreled 
for  the  honor  of  saying  mass  in  her  apartments. 

It  was  necessary  for  Lucrezia  to  leave  Rome  to  take 
possession  of  her  new  domain ;  but  her  father  could  not 
endure  a  long  separation  from  his  beloved  daughter,  and 


170 


THE  BORGIAS. 


so  he  determined  to  put  himself  in  possession  of  the 
town  of  Nepi,  which  he  long  before  gave  to  Ascanio 
Sforza,  as  the  reader  will  doubtless  remember,  as  the 
price  of  his  vote  in  the  Conclave.  Ascanio  had  natu¬ 
rally  forfeited  the  place  by  adhering  to  the  fortunes  of 
his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Milan,  and  the  pope  invited 
Lucrezia  to  join  him  there,  and  take  part  in  the  fi§tes 
incident  to  his  resuming  possession. 

The  alacrity  with  which  Lucrezia  complied  with  her 
father’s  wish  in  this  regard  was  responsible  for  the  fur¬ 
ther  gift  to  her  of  the  city  and  territory  of  Sermonetta, 
which  belonged  to  the  Caetani.  The  gift  was  kept  se¬ 
cret,  it  is  true,  because  it  was  necessary  in  the  first  place 
to  get  rid  of  the  two  proprietors  of  the  territory  in  ques¬ 
tion,  Monsignore  Giacomo  Caetano,  apostolic  prothono- 
tary,  and  Prospero  Caetano,  a  young  nobleman  of  great 
promise.  But  as  they  both  lived  at  Pome,  and  were  en¬ 
tirely  unsuspecting,  believing  themselves  to  be  in  high 
favor  with  his  Holiness,  the  one  by  virtue  of  his  office, 
and  the  other  because  of  his  sanguine  and  courageous 
nature,  the  problem  seemed  not  to  be  difficult  of  solu¬ 
tion.  Immediately  after  Alexander’s  return  to  Rome 
Giacomo  Caetano  was  arrested  upon  some  trivial  pretext 
or  other,  and  confined  in  the  Castle  of  San  Angelo,  where 
he  soon  died  from  the  effects  of  poison,  and  Prospero  was 
strangled  in  his  own  house.  By  reason  of  these  two 
deaths,  which  occurred  with  such  suddenness  that 
neither  of  the  victims  had  time  to  make  a  will,  the  pope 
declared  that  Sermonetta  and  all  the  other  property  of 
the  Caetani  had  lapsed  to  the  apostolic  chamber,  and  the 
chamber  sold  them  to  Lucrezia  in  consideration  of  the 
sum  of  eighty  thousand  crowns.  On  the  day  after  the 
payment  her  father  handed  the  money  back  to  her. 
Thus  Csesar  found  when  he  reached  Rome  that  his  father 


THE  BORGIAS.  171 

had  got  the  start  of  him  in  his  conquests,  although  he 
had  made  all  the  possible  haste. 

There  was  another  individual  whose  fortunes  had 
reached  a  prodigious  height  during  Caesar’s  stay  in 
France,  and  that  was  Giovanni  Borgia,  the  pope’s  ne¬ 
phew,  who  had  been  one  of  the  Duke  of  Gandia’s  most 
faithful  friends  until  his  death.  It  was  common  gossip 
at  Rome  that  the  young  cardinal  owed  the  favors  which 
were  heaped  upon  him  less  to  the  brother’s  memory  than 
to  the  sister’s  protection.  Here  was  a  twofold  reason 
why  Giovanni  Borgia  should  become  particularly  obnox¬ 
ious  to  Caesar,  and  he  swore  a  mighty  oath  in  his  heart 
that  he  should  not  long  enjoy  the  high  office,  when  he 
learned  that  his  cousin  had  been  appointed  cardinal  a 
latere,  and  had  set  out  from  Rome  to  make  the  tour  of 
the  pontifical  States  with  a  retinue  of  archbishops,  bish¬ 
ops,  prelates  and  knights,  which  would  have  done  honor 
to  the  pope  himself. 

Caesar  had  come  to  Rome  only  to  learn  what  was 
going  on ;  so  he  remained  there  but  three  days,  and  then 
joined  his  army  on  the  banks  of  the  Enza  with  such 
troops  as  the  pope  had  at  his  disposal.  He  marched  at 
once  upon  Immola,  which  place  was  compelled  to  make 
terms,  as  its  masters  had  withdrawn  to  Forli.  Imme¬ 
diately  after  the  surrender  of  Immola  he  marched  upon 
Forli. 

There  he  encountered  serious  resistance,  but  it  was  all 
inspired  by  a  woman.  Catherine  Sforza,  the  widow  of 
Girolamo  and  mother  of  Ottaviano  Riario  had  sought 
shelter  in  the  town,  and  aroused  the  courage  of  the  gar¬ 
rison  by  putting  herself  under  its  protection.  Caesar 
saw  that  the  place  was  not  to  be  carried  by  any  coup 
de  main,  but  that  he  must  have  recourse  to  a  regular 
siege.  He  at  once  began  to  dispose  his  forces  to  that 


172 


THE  BORGIAS. 


end,  placed  a  battery  of  artillery  opposite  the  spot  where 
the  walls  seemed  to  him  to  be  least  strong,  and  ordered 
a  continuous  fire  to  be  kept  up  until  a  practicable  breach 
was  opened. 

As  he  was  returning  to  his  tent  after  giving  this  order 
he  found  Cardinal  Giovanni  Borgia  in  the  camp ;  he  was 
on  his  way  from  Ferrara  to  Rome,  and  was  unwilling  to 
pass  so  near  him  without  paying  him  a  visit.  Csesar  re¬ 
ceived  him  with  effusive  expressions  of  delight,  and 
kept  him  with  him  three  days  ;  on  the  fourth  day  he  as¬ 
sembled  all  his  officers  and  courtiers  at  a  grand  farewell 
banquet,  and  having  entrusted  his  cousin  with  dis¬ 
patches  for  the  pope,  he  took  leave  of  him  with  the 
same  demonstrations  of  affectionate  esteem  with  which 
he  welcomed  his  arrival. 

Giovanni  set  out  by  post  immediately  after  leaving  the 
table,  but  when  he  reached  Urbino  he  suddenly  began 
to  feel  an  indescribable  pain  and  sickness,  which  com¬ 
pelled  him  to  stop  there  for  a  few  moments.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  he  felt  somewhat  better,  and  resumed  his 
journey,  but  just  as  he  was  driving  into  Rocca  Contrada 
he  was  taken  ill  again,  and  so  seriously  that  he  deter¬ 
mined  to  go  no  farther.  He  remained  there  two  days, 
and  then,  feeling  slightly  better,  and  having  learned 
that  Forli  was  taken  and  Catherine  Sforza  made  pris¬ 
oner,  he  determined  to  go  back  to  Csesar  and  congratu¬ 
late  himmn  his  victory.  '  But  at  Fossombrune,  although 
he  substituted  a  litter  for  his  carriage,  he  was  compelled 
to  stop  a  third  time,  and  it  proved  to  be  the  last.  That 
same  day  he  took  to  his  bed  never  to  rise  again,  and 
three  days  later  he  was  dead. 

His  body  was  taken  to  Rome  and  interred  without 
display  in  the  Church  of  Santa  Maria-del-Popolo,  where 
the  body  of  his  friend  the  Duke  of  Gandia  awaited 


THE  BORGIAS. 


173 


him.  Notwithstanding  the  power  and  influence  the 
young  cardinal  had  enjoyed,  he  was  no  more  heard  of 
thereafter  than  if  he  had  never  existed  :  for  thus  darkly 
and  without  commotion  did  all  those  pass  out  of  sight 
who  were  whirled  away  by  the  headlong  torrent  of  the 
ambition  of  that  terrible  triumvirate  whose  names  were 
Alexander,  Caesar  and  Lucrezia. 

At  about  the  same  time  Rome  was  startled  by  another 
murder.  Don  Giovanni  Cerviglione,  captain  of  his 
Holiness’  men-at-arms,  a  gentleman  of  noble  birth  and 
a  gallant  soldier,  was  returning  home  one  night  after 
supping  with  one  Pignatelli,  a  knight  of  St.  John,  when 
he  was  set  upon  by  a  band  of  ruffians.  One  of  them 
asked  him  his  name,  and  when  he  gave  it,  finding  that 
he  had  not  mistaken  his  man,  plunged  his  dagger  into 
his  breast,  while  another  with  his  sword  cut  off  his  head, 
which  fell  at  the  body’s  feet  before  the  body  itself  fell. 

The  governor  of  Rome  complained  to  the  pope  of  this 
murder,  but  he  saw  by  the  way  in  which  his  Holiness 
received  the  information  that  it  would  be  quite  as  well 
for  him  to  say  nothing  more.  So  he  put  a  stop  to  the 
investigation  he  had  set  on  foot,  and  none  of  the  mur¬ 
derers  were  arrested.  But  it  was  currently  reported 
that  during  his  brief  stay  in  Rome  Caesar  made  an  ap¬ 
pointment  to  meet  Cerviglione’s  wife,  who  was  a  Borgia, 
and  that  her  husband  having  learned  of  this  infraction 
of  her  duty  to  him,  went  so  far  as  to  threaten  her  and 
her  lover  too.  His  threats  were  reported  to  Caesar,  who 
by  substituting  Michelotto’s  arm  for  his  own,  from  Forli 
struck  down  Cerviglione  in  the  heart  of  Rome. 

Another  sudden  death  followed  so  quickly  upon  Don 
Giovanni  Cerviglione’s,  that  common  rumor  did  not 
fail  to  ascribe  it  to  the  same  source  at  least,  if  not  to 
the  same  motive.  Monsignore  Agnelli,  of  Mantua, 


174 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Archbishop  of  Cosenza,  clerk  of  the  chamber,  and  Vice 
Legate  of  Viterbo,  having  fallen  out  of  favor  with  his 
Holiness  for  some  unknown  reason,  was  poisoned  at  his 
own  table,  where  he  had  passed  part  of  the  night  in 
social  intercourse  with  three  or  four  guests,  while  death 
was  already  stealing  through  his  veins.  He  went  to  bed 
apparently  in  perfect  health,  and  the  next  morning  was 
found  dead  in  his  bed.  His  possessions  were  inconti¬ 
nently  divided  into  three  portions :  lands  and  houses 
were  given  to  the  Due  de  Valentinois  ;  Francesco  Borgia, 
son  of  Pope  Calixtus  III.,  secured  the  bishopric ;  and 
the  office  of  clerk  of  the  chamber  was  sold  for  five  thou¬ 
sand  ducats  to  Ventura  Bennassai,  a  merchant  of  Sienna, 
who  handed  the  money  over  to  Alexander  and  took  up 
his  abode  at  the  Vatican  the  same  day. 

This  last  mentioned  death  served  to  settle  a  point  of 
law  which  was  uncertain  prior  to  that  time.  As  Mon¬ 
signore  Agnelli’s  heirs  made  some  objection  to  being  thus 
summarily  dispossessed,  Alexander  issued  a  decree  which 
declared  all  cardinals  and  priests  incapacitated  from 
making  a  will,  and  that  all  property,  the  title  to  which 
was  in  abeyance,  would  thereafter  be  vested  in  him. 

Meanwhile  Csesar  Borgia  was  brought  to  a  standstill 
in  his  victorious  career.  With  the  two  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  ducats  remaining  in  his  treasury  Ludovico  Sforza 
raised  a  force  of  five  hundred  Burgundian  men-at-arms, 
and  eight  thousand  Swiss  infantry,  with  which  he  re¬ 
turned  to  Lombardy.  Trivulce,  in  order  to  hold  his 
ground,  was  compelled  to  recall  Yves  d’ Alegre,  and  the 
troops  Louis  XII.  loaned  to  Csesar,  whereupon  Csesar 
left  part  of  the  papal  troops  in  garrison  at  Forli,  and 
returned  to  Rome  with  the  others. 

Alexander  determined  that  his  entry  should  be  a 
triumphal  one,  and  when  he  learned  that  the  advance 


THE  BORGIAS. 


175 


guard  was  within  a  few  leagues  of  the  city  he  sent 
couriers  to  request  the  foreign  ambassadors,  cardinals, 
prelates,  Roman  nobility,  and  all  the  members  of  all  the 
orders,  to  go  out  to  meet  his  son  with  all  their  retinues, 
and  take  part  in  fitly  celebrating  the  return  of  the  con¬ 
queror.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  servility  of 
flatterers  and  time-servers  is  always  even  more  pro¬ 
nounced  than  the  arrogance  of  those  whom  they  flatter, 
and  so  the  pope’s  wishes  were  not  only  complied  with, 
but  exceeded. 

Caesar’s  triumphal  entry  took  place  on  February  26, 
1500.  Although  it  was  in  the  midst  of  the  Jubilee,  the 
fetes  of  the  carnival  began  none  the  less,  and  were  more 
uproarious  and  indecent  than  usual.  On  the  following 
day,  under  cover  of  a  masquerade,  the  conquering  hero 
arranged  a  new  method  of  gratifying  his  pride.  As  if 
he  proposed  to  claim  for  himself  the  genius,  the  fortune 
and  the  renown  of  the  great  man  whose  name  he  bore, 
he  determined  to  represent  the  triumph  of  Caesar  on  the 
Piazza  di  Navonne,  where  the  fetes  of  the  carnival 
ordinarily  took  place.  He  made  that  square  his  starting- 
point,  and  rode  thence  through  all  the  streets  of  Rome, 
at  the  head  of  a  procession  of  antique  costumes,  and 
Roman  chariots,  in  one  of  which  he  stood,  clad  in  a  robe 
like  those  worn  by  the  Caesars,  with  a  golden  wreath 
upon  his  head,  and  surrounded  by  lictors,  soldiers  and 
standard-bearers  ;  the  latter  carrying  banners  on  which 
was  the  legend  : 

“Aut  Caesar,  aut  nihil  A 

On  the  fourth  Sunday  in  Lent,  the  pope  conferred  on 
Caesar  the  high  and  dignified  office  he  had  so  long 
coveted,  of  vicar-general  and  gonfalonier  of  the  Church 
universal. 

Meanwhile  Sforza  had  recrossed  the  Alps  to  the  Lake 


176 


THE  BORGIAS. 


of  Como,  amid  frantic  outbursts  of  joy  on  the  part  of 
his  former  subjects,  who  speedily  lost  all  the  enthusiasm 
which  the  presence  of  the  French  army  and  the  promises 
of  Louis  XII.  at  first  aroused  in  their  hearts.  The 
demonstrations  were  so  pronounced  in  Milan  that  Tri- 
vulce  judged  it  to  be  unsafe  for  the  French  garrison  to  re- 
main  there,  and  withdrew  to  Novara.  The  sequel  proved 
that  he  was  not  mistaken,  for  as  soon  as  the  Milanese 
saw  that  he  was  making  preparations  for  departure,  there 
was  intense  excitement  throughout  the  city,  and  the 
streets  filled  with  armed  men  as  if  by  magic.  The 
French  had  to  force  their  way  through  a  howling  mob, 
sword  in  hand  and  lance  in  rest,  and  they  were  not  fairly 
outside  the  gates  before  the  people  spread  out  through 
the  surrounding  country,  following  the  army  with  shouts 
and  hooting  to  the  banks  of  the  Ticino. 

Trivulce  left  at  Novara  four  hundred  lances  and  the 
three  thousand  Swiss  whom  Yves  d’ Alegre  brought 
from  Romagna,  and  with  the  rest  of  his  army  marched 
to  Mortara,  where  he  stopped  to  await  the  reinforcements 
for  which  he  had  sent  to  the  king.  Ascanio  and 
Ludovico  Sforza  entered  Milan  in  his  wake  and  were 
welcomed  with  tumultuous  delight  by  the  whole  city. 

They  lost  no  time  in  inaction,  wishing  to  make  the 
most  of  the  popular  enthusiasm ;  Ascanio  undertook  to 
reduce  the  Castle  of  Milan,  while  Ludovico  crossed  the 
Ticino,  and  attacked  Novara. 

Besieged  and  besiegers  were  sons  of  the  same  nation, 
for  Yves  d’ Alegre  had  with  him  only  three  hundred 
French,  and  Ludovico  not  more  than  four  hundred 
Italians,  the  bulk  of  each  army  being  made  up  of  Swiss 
infantry.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  Swiss  had  been  sub¬ 
stantially  the  only  foot-soldiers  in  Europe  for  six  years 
past,  and  all  the  powers  indiscriminately  drew  upon  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


177 


vast  reservoirs  of  their  mountains,  with  gold  in  their 
hands.  The  result  had  been  that  these  hardy  sons  of 
William  Tell,  being  thus  put  up  at  auction  by  these 
cantons,  and  being  taken  away  by  their  various  en¬ 
gagements  from  their  wild  poverty  stricken  mountains, 
to  be  brought  in  close  contact  with  the  wealthiest  and 
most  dissolute  of  nations,  although  they  retained  their 
courage,  had  lost  sight  of  that  rigid  adherence  to  prin¬ 
ciple  which  had  long  caused  them  to  be  held  up  as 
models  of  honor  and  good  faith  :  they  had  become  a  sort 
of  merchandise  always  ready  to  be  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder.  The  French  were  the  first  to  feel  the  effects  of 
their  venality,  which  was  destined  later  to  be  so  fatal  to 
Ludovico  Sforza. 

The  Swiss  contingent  of  the  garrison  of  Novara  es¬ 
tablished  communications  with  their  countrymen  in  the 
vanguard  of  the  ducal  army,  and  ascertained  that  the 
latter,  who  were  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  Ludovico’s 
funds  were  nearly  exhausted,  were  better  fed  and  better 
paid  than  themselves ;  they  thereupon  agreed  to  sur¬ 
render  the  town,  and  take  service  under  the  Milanese 
banner,  if  they  could  be  assured  the  same  pay.  Ludo¬ 
vico  grasped  at  the  offer,  as  the  reader  will  readily  un¬ 
derstand.  Novara  was  turned  over  to  him,  except  the 
citadel,  which  was  held  by  the  French  lances,  and  the 
Milanese  army  was  reinforced  by  three  thousand  men. 

Ludovico  made  the  serious  mistake  of  delaying  to  lay 
siege  to  the  citadel,  instead  of  marching  at  once  with  his 
augmented  force  upon  Novara.  The  result  was  that 
while  he  was  neglecting  his  opportunities,  Louis  XII., 
who  had  received  advices  from  Trivulce  and  realized  the 
imminence  of  his  danger,  hastened  the  departure  of  the 
French  gendarmerie  who  were  already  mustered  in  for 
service  in  Italy,  sent  the  Bailly  of  Dijon  to  hire  more 

Vol.  11—12.. 


178 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Swiss,  and  ordered  Cardinal  d’Amboise,  his  prime  min¬ 
ister,  to  cross  the  Alps  and  take  up  his  quarters  at  Asti 
to  hurry  on  the  assembling  of  the  army.  The  cardinal 
found  a  nucleus  of  three  thousand  men  there,  La  Tr6mo- 
ville  brought  him  fifteen  hundred  lances  and  six  thou¬ 
sand  French  infantry,  and  lastly  the  Bailly  of  Dijon 
arrived  with  ten  thousand  fresh  Swiss ;  so  that,  including 
the  troops  with  Trivulce  at  Mortara,  Louis  had  beyond 
the  mountains  the  finest  army  that  a  king  of  France 
had  ever  brought  into  the  field. 

By  clever  manoeuvring  this  army  took  up  a  position 
between  Novara  and  Milan,  thus  cutting  off  the  duke’s 
communications  with  his  capital  before  he  was  informed 
that  such  an  army  was  on  foot.  He  was  compelled, 
therefore,  in  spite  of  his  inferior  numbers,  to  decide  to 
try  the  chances  of  a  battle. 

But  it  came  to  pass  as  the  preparations  for  a  decisive 
struggle  were  being  actively  pushed  on  both  sides,  that 
the  Swiss  Diet,  which  had  been  advised  that  sons  of  the 
same  cantons  were  on  the  point  of  flying  at  each  other’s 
throats,  sent  peremptory  orders  to  all  Swiss  serving  in 
either  army  to  break  their  engagements  and  return  to 
their  homes.  But  during  the  two  months  which  elapsed 
between  the  surrender  of  Novara  and  the  arrival  of  the 
French  army  before  that  town,  matters  had  taken  on  a 
very  different  appearance  owing  to  the  exhaustion  of 
Sforza’s  treasury.  There  was  more  parleying  between 
the  outposts  of  the  two  armies,  and  this  time,  thanks  to 
the  supply  of  funds  sent  into  Italy  by  Louis  XII.,  the 
Swiss  in  the  French  service  were  found  to  be  better  fed 
and  better  paid  than  their  countrymen.  The  worthy 
Helvetians,  who  were  no  longer  fighting  for  their  inde¬ 
pendence,  were  too  well  aware  of  the  value  of  their 
blood  to  shed  one  single  drop  of  it  unless  it  wTas  paid  for 


THE  BORGIAS. 


179 


by  its  weight  in  gold :  and  so  they  resolved  to  betray 
Ludovico  as  they  betrayed  Yves  d’ Alegre,  and  while 
the  troops  levied  by  the  Bailly  of  Dijon  remained  true 
to  the  French  flag,  despite  the  orders  of  the  Diet,  Ludo¬ 
vico’s  mercenaries  declared  that  in  fighting  against  their 
brothers  they  should  be  guilty  of  rebellion  against  the 
authority  of  the  Diet,  and  render  themselves  liable  to 
capital  punishment — a  risk  which  nothing  but  the  imme¬ 
diate  liquidation  of  their  arrears  of  pay  could  induce 
them  to  undertake. 

The  duke,  whose  last  ducat  was  gone,  and  who  was 
hopelessly  separated  from  his  capital  unless  he  could  re¬ 
open  the  road  thereto  by  a  victory,  promised  them  not 
only  their  back  pay,  but  their  back  pay  twice  over  if 
they  would  stand  by  him  in  one  last  effort.  Unfortu¬ 
nately  his  ability  to  fulfill  his  promise  depended  on  the 
uncertain  chances  of  a  battle,  so  that  the  Swiss  declared 
that  they  had  too  great  a  respect  for  the  constituted 
authorities  of  their  fatherland  to  disobey  their  com¬ 
mands,  that  they  loved  their  brothers  too  dearly  to  shed 
their  blood  for  nothing,  and  that  consequently  Sforza 
need  no  longer  rely  upon  them,  as  they  had  decided  to 
start  for  their  respective  cantons  on  the  very  next  day. 

Thereupon  the  duke,  seeing  that  it  was  all  up  with 
him,  made  a  final  appeal  to  their  honor,  and  adjured 
them  at  least  to  include  him  in  the  capitulation  they 
proposed  to  make.  But  they  replied  that  an  attempt 
on  their  part  to  do  so,  if  it  did  not  make  the  capitulation 
impossible,  would  make  it  less  advantageous  for  them 
than  they  had  the  right  to  expect,  especially  in  respect 
to  their  being  indemnified  for  the  loss  of  their  arrears  of 
pay. 

At  last,  however,  seeming  to  be  moved  by  the  en¬ 
treaties  of  him  whose  orders  they  had  so  long  obeyed, 


180 


THE  BORGIAS. 


they  offered  to  give  him  a  uniform  and  hide  him  in  their 
ranks.  This  was  an  absurd  proposition,  for  Sforza  was 
well  advanced  in  years,  and  very  short,  so  that  his  pres¬ 
ence  could  not  fail  of  detection  among  men  of  whom  the 
oldest  was  under  thirty  and  the  shortest  taller  than  five 
feet  six.  However,  it  was  his  last  resource,  and  so 
without  discarding  it  altogether,  he  sought  some  means 
of  so  modifying  it  as  to  make  it  efficacious.  He  finally 
decided  to  disguise  himself  as  a  Cordelier  monk,  and  to 
pass  himself  off  as  their  chaplain,  mounted  on  a  sorry 
nag.  As  Galeasso,  of  San  Severino,  his  second  in  com¬ 
mand,  and  his  two  brothers  were  all  men  of  average 
stature,  they  might  hope  to  pass  unnoticed  in  the  Swiss 
ranks  by  donning  their  uniform. 

This  plan  was  hardly  arranged  when  the  duke  was 
advised  that  the  capitulation  between  Trivulce  and  the 
Swiss  was  already  signed.  The  mercenaries,  who  had 
made  no  stipulations  in  favor  of  the  duke  and  his  gen¬ 
erals,  were  to  march  off  on  the  following  morning  with 
their  arms  and  baggage,  through  the  ranks  of  the  French 
troops :  therefore  the  last  hope  of  the  ill-starred  Ludo¬ 
vico  and  his  generals  was  to  trust  to  their  disguise,  and 
that  they  did.  San  Severino  and  his  brothers  took  their 
places  in  the  ranks,  while  Sforza,  enveloped  in  his  monk’s 
cloak,  and  with  the  hood  pulled  down  over  his  eyes,  rode 
with  the  baggage  train. 

The  march  past  began.  But  the  Swiss  after  selling 
their  blood  thought  it  not  beneath  them  to  sell  their 
honor.  The  French  were  forewarned  of  the  disguise  of 
Sforza  and  his  generals.  All  four  were  recognized 
and  Sforza  was  made  prisoner  by  La  Tremoville  him¬ 
self. 

It  was  said  that  the  price  of  this  treachery  was  the 
town  of  Bellinzona,  which  belonged  to  the  French; 


THE  BORGIAS. 


181 


certain  it  is  that  the  Swiss  took  possession  of  it  on  their 
way  back  to  their  mountains,  and  that  Louis  XII.  made 
no  attempt  to  retake  it  from  them. 

When  Ascanio  Sforza,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  re¬ 
mained  at  Milan,  learned  of  this  cowardly  desertion,  he 
considered  that  the  game  was  lost,  and  that  the  best  course 
for  him  to  pursue  was  to  make  his  escape  before  one  of  the 
sudden  changes  of  temper,  so  common  among  the  common 
people  should  lead  to  his  being  made  prisoner  by  his  broth¬ 
er’s  former  subjects,  to  whom  it  might  occur  to  purchase 
their  pardon  at  the  price  of  his  freedom.  He  consequently 
stole  away  by  night  with  the  principal  leaders  of  the  Ghi- 
belline  nobility,  and  went  toward  Plaisance,  on  his  way  to 
the  kingdom  of  Naples.  But  when  he  reached  Rivolta 
he  remembered  that  an  old  friend  of  his  boyhood  lived 
there — one  Conrad  Lando,  whom  he  had  loaded  with 
favors  in  his  days  of  prosperity.  As  he  and  his  com¬ 
panions  were  fatigued  beyond  measure,  he  resolved  to 
seek  hospitality  at  his  hands  for  one  night. 

Conrad  received  them  with  a  show  of  unbounded  de¬ 
light,  and  placed  his  house  and  his  household  at  their 
service.  But  they  had  no  sooner  retired,  than  he  sent  a 
messenger  to  inform  Carlo  Orsino,  commandant  of  the 
Venetian  garrison  at  Plaisance,  that  he  was  prepared  to 
deliver  up  Cardinal  Ascanio  and  the  principal  officers 
of  the  Milanese  army.  Orsino  did  not  choose  to  entrust 
an  expedition  of  such  importance  to  anybody  but  him¬ 
self,  so  he  at  once  took  horse  with  twenty-five  men,  and, 
having  surrounded  Conrad’s  house,  entered  the  apart¬ 
ment  occupied  by  Ascanio  and  his  companions,  sword  in 
hand.  They  were  surprised  in  their  sleep  and  made  no 
resistance.  They  were  at  first  taken  to  Venice,  but 
Louis  XII.  claimed  them,  and  they  were  given  up  to 
him. 


182 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Thus  the  King  of  France  had  in  his  power  both 
Ludovico  and  Ascanio  Sforza,  as  well  as  Hermes,  a 
legitimate  nephew  of  Francesco  Sforza  the  Great,  two 
bastards  named  Alexander  and  Contino,  and  Francesco, 
son  of  the  ill-fated  Giovanni  Galeasso,  who  was  poisoned 
by  his  uncle. 

To  make  an  end  of  the  whole  family  at  a  stroke, 
Louis  XII.  compelled  Francesco  to  enter  a  convent,  cast 
Alexander,  Hermes  and  Contino  into  prison,  and  im¬ 
mured  Ascanio  in  the  tower  of  Bourges,  while  the  un¬ 
fortunate  Ludovico,  after  being  transferred  from  the 
fortress  of  Pierre-Encise  to  Lys  Saint-Georges,  was  fin¬ 
ally  relegated  to  the  castle  of  Loches,  where,  after  ten 
years  of  captivity,  in  utter  solitude  and  destitution,  he 
died,  cursing  the  hour  when  it  first  occurred  to  him  to 
invite  the  French  into  Italy. 

The  news  of  the  downfall  of  Ludovico  and  his  family 
gave  unalloyed  satisfaction  at  Rome  ;  for,  by  consolidat¬ 
ing  the  power  of  the  ultramontanes  in  the  Milanais,  it 
solidified  that  of  the  Holy  See  in  Romagna,  as  there 
was  no  longer  any  opposition  to  be  apprehended  to  Cae¬ 
sar’s  conquests.  Handsome  presents  were  made  to  the 
couriers  who  brought  the  good  tidings,  which  were  pro¬ 
claimed  throughout  the  city  to  the  sound  of  trumpet  and 
drum. 

Shouts  of  “  France  !  France  !  ”  and  “  Orso  !  Orso  !  ” 
the  rallying  cries  of  Louis  XII.  and  the  Orsini  respec¬ 
tively,  filled  the  air  in  every  direction,  and  the  streets 
were  all  illuminated  in  the  evening,  as  if  Constantinople 
or  Jerusalem  were  taken.  The  pope  provided  fetes  and 
displays  of  fireworks  for  the  people,  calmly  oblivious  of 
the  fact  that  it  was  Holy  Week,  and  that  the  Jubilee 
had  drawn  to  Rome  more  than  two  hundred  thousand 
people,  so  much  more  important  did  the  worldly  interests 


THE  BORGIAS.  183 

of  his  own  family  seem  to  him  than  the  spiritual  inter¬ 
ests  of  his  subjects. 

One  thing  only  was  lacking  to  ensure  the  success  of 
the  vast  schemes  which  the  pope  and  his  son  were  build¬ 
ing  upon  the  friendship  and  alliance  of  Louis  XII.,  and 
that  one  thing  was  money.  But  Alexander  was  not  the 
man  to  be  embarrassed  by  such  a  bagatelle.  To  be  sure 
the  sale  of  benefices  had  been  worked  until  it  would 
yield  no  more,  the  ordinary  and  extraordinary  taxes 
were  collected  for  the  whole  year,  and  but  a  paltry  sum 
could  be  anticipated  by  way  of  inheritance  from  cardi¬ 
nals  and  prelates  as  the  richest  of  them  were  already 
poisoned;  but  Alexander  had  other  resources  which 
were  none  the  less  efficacious  because  they  were  less  fre¬ 
quently  put  in  practice. 

His  first  device  was  to  spread  the  report  that  the 
Turks  were  threatening  to  invade  Christendom,  and  that 
he  was  positively  sure  that  the  summer  would  not  pass 
before  Bajazet  landed  two  large  armies,  one  in  Romagna, 
and  one  in  Calabria.  He  therefore  issued  two  bulls,  one 
which  provided  for  the  payment  to  the  Holy  See  of  one 
tithe  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  of  every  description, 
throughout  Europe,  and  another  calling  upon  the  Jews 
to  contribute  the  same  proportion  of  their  incomes ;  both 
bulls  threatened  those  who  refused  to  comply,  or  who 
undertook  to  resist,  with  excommunication  in  its  harsh¬ 
est  form. 

The  second  expedient  was  the  sale  of  indulgences,  a 
thing  which  had  never  before  been  resorted  to.  The 
necessity  for  such  indulgences  was  extreme  in  the  cases 
of  those  whom  ill  health  or  poverty  prevented  from  com¬ 
ing  to  Rome  during  the  Jubilee.  This  happy  thought 
made  it  unnecessary  to  take  the  journey,  and  for  a  third 
of  the  sum  it  would  have  cost  their  sins  were  remitted 


184 


THE  BORGIAS. 


as  completely,  as  if  they  had  complied  with  all  the  con¬ 
ditions  of  their  pilgrimage.  A  veritable  army  of  col¬ 
lectors  was  detailed  to  gather  in  the  income  arising  from 
this  source,  and  a  certain  Ludovico  della  Torre  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  it.  The  sums  which  poured  into  the 
papal  treasury  are  quite  incalculable  ;  a  vague  idea  of 
their  amount  may  be  formed  if  we  say  that  the  territory 
of  Venice  alone  paid  on  this  account  seven  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  thousand  pounds’  weight  of  gold ! 

Meanwhile  the  Turks  did  make  some  demonstration 
in  the  direction  of  Hungary  and  the  Venetians  feared 
that  they  might  eventually  fall  upon  them,  so  they  ap¬ 
plied  to  the  pope  for  aid.  He  ordered  that,  in  all  his 
dominions,  an  Ave  Maria  should  be  said  at  mid-day,  to 
implore  God  to  avert  the  danger  which  threatened  the 
most  serene  republic.  That  was  the  extent  of  the  assist¬ 
ance  the  Venetians  obtained  from  his  Holiness  in  return 
for  the  seven  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  pounds’ 
weight  of  gold  he  received  from  them. 

But  as  if  God  wished  to  impress  upon  His  incongruous 
representative,  that  He  was  sore  displeased  by  such  mock¬ 
ery  of  sacred  things,  an  enormous  piece  of  iron  fell  at 
his  feet  from  the  roof  of  the  Campanile,  as  he  was  passing 
by  on  his  way  to  the  Gallery  of  Benedictions  on  St. 
Peter’s  eve.  And  again,  as  if  a  single  warning  was  not 
deemed  to  be  sufficient,  on  St.  Peter’s  day  itself,  as  the 
pope  was  setting  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  his  suite  with 
Cardinal  Capuano,  and  Monsignore  Poto,  his  private 
chamberlain,  he  saw  through  the  open  window  such  a 
huge  mass  of  black  clouds  piling  up  in  the  heavens,  that 
he  anticipated  a  violent  storm  and  ordered  his  compan¬ 
ions  to  close  the  windows.  He  was  not  mistaken ;  for 
just  as  they  were  obeying  his  orders,  there  came  such  a 
furious  blast  of  wind  that  the  tallest  chimney  of  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


185 


Vatican  was  blown  over  like  a  tree  torn  up  by  the  roots, 
and  fell  upon  the  roof ;  it  crashed  through  that  and  the 
upper  floor,  and  fell  into  the  very  room  where  they  were. 
At  the  shock  which  made  the  whole  edifice  tremble,  and 
at  the  crash  which  they  heard  behind  them,  Cardinal 
Capuano  and  Monsignore  Poto  turned  about,  and,  seeing 
nothing  but  a  cloud  of  dust  and  debris,  leaped  upon  the 
parapet  outside  the  window,  crying  to  the  guards  at  the 
door : 

“  The  pope  is  dead  !  the  pope  is  dead !  ” 

Servants  and  retainers  hastened  to  the  spot,  and  found 
three  persons  lying  among  the  ruins,  one  dead  and  two 
dying.  The  dead  man  was  a  gentleman  of  Sienna 
named  Lorenzo  Chigi,  and  the  two  who  were  dying,  two 
inmates  of  the  Vatican  ;  they  were  in  a  room  on  the 
upper  floor  and  fell  through  the  hole  made  by  the 
falling  chimney. 

Alexander  was  not  to  be  found,  and  as  he  did  not 
answer  their  repeated  calls,  the  belief  that  he  was  dead 
became  certainty,  and  the  news  spread  rapidly  through 
the  city.  But  after  a  short  time  they  heard  him  groaning, 
and  discovered  him  just  recovering  his  senses,  and 
wounded  in  several  parts  of  the  body,  although  not 
seriously.  His  life  was  saved  as  by  a  miracle ;  the  ends 
of  the  rafter  which  was  broken  across  the  middle  re¬ 
mained  in  the  side  walls,  and  one  of  them  formed  a  sort 
of  roof  over  the  chair,  in  which  the  pope  was  sitting  at 
the  time,  and  protected  him  so  that  he  suffered  nothing 
more  than  a  few  contusions. 

The  two  contradictory  reports  of  the  pope’s  sudden 
death  and  his  miraculous  preservation  soon  spread 
throughout  the  city,  and  the  Due  de  Valentinois,  terri¬ 
fied  at  the  thought  of  the  great  change  in  his  fortunes 
which  the  least  accident  to  the  Holy  Father  might  bring 


186 


THE  BORGIAS. 


about,  hurried  to  the  Vatican,  to  make  sure  of  the  truth 
with  his  own  eyes. 

Alexander  himself  thought  proper  to  give  thanks 
publicly  to  heaven  for  the  protection  accorded  him,  and 
on  the  same  day  went  in  state,  borne  aloft  in  his  pontifi¬ 
cal  chair  by  two  valets,  two  squires  and  two  grooms,  and 
escorted  by  a  numerous  retinue  of  prelates  and  men-at- 
arms,  to  the  Church  of  Santa-Maria-del-Popolo,  where 
the  Duke  of  Gandia  and  Giovanni  Borgia  were  buried. 
Was  it  that  there  was  some  shadow  of  religious  feeling 
still  remaining  in  his  heart,  or  was  he  drawn  thither  by 
the  memory  of  his  guilty  passion  for  his  former  mistress, 
Vanozza,  who  was  exposed  to  the  veneration  of  the 
faithful  in  a  chapel  at  the  left  of  the  great  altar,  in  the 
guise  of  a  Madonna  !  Before  that  altar  the  priest  made 
a  gift  to  the  church  of  a  magnificent  chalice  containing 
three  hundred  golden  crowns,  which  the  Cardinal  of 
Sienna  poured  into  a  silver  paten,  to  the  great  satisfac¬ 
tion  of  the  papal  vanity. 

Before  leaving  Rome  to  undertake  the  conquest  of 
Romagna,  Csesar  reflected  how  worse  than  useless  to 
himself  and  his  father,  Lucrezia’s  marriage  to  Alphonzo, 
which  they  once  were  so  desirous  to  arrange,  had  become. 
Furthermore  it  was  evident  that  the  halt  which  Louis 
XII.  was  making  in  Lombardy  was  merely  to  take 
breath,  and  that  Milan  was  simply  a  relay  station  on  the 
road  to  Naples.  Now  it  was  very  possible  that  Louis 
might  be  annoyed  by  this  marriage  which  made  his 
enemy’s  nephew  the  son-in-law  of  his  ally ;  whereas,  if 
Alphonzo  were  dead  and  out  of  the  way,  Lucrezia  would 
be  in  a  position  to  marry  some  powerful  lord  of  the 
Marches  of  Ferrara  or  Bresse,  who  could  assist  her 
brother  in  the  conquest  of  Romagna.  Alphonzo,  there¬ 
fore,  was  useless  as  well  as  dangerous ;  and  with  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


187 


Borgias  to  be  useless  was  the  worst  recommendation  a 
man  could  have.  And  so  Alphonzo’s  death  was  resolved 
upon. 

Meanwhile  Lucrezia’s  husband,  who  had  long  been 
awake  to  the  danger  which  he  incurred  by  living  near 
his  terrible  father-in-law,  had  returned  to  Naples.  Dis¬ 
simulation,  however,  by  constant  use  had  become  so  in¬ 
grained  in  the  character  of  both  Alexander  and  Caesar, 
that  there  was  no  perceptible  change  in  their  relations 
with  him,  and  he  was  beginning  to  forget  his  fears,  when 
he  received  an  invitation  from  the  pope  and  his  son  to 
come  to  Rome  and  take  part  in  a  bull-fight  after  the 
Spanish  fashion,  with  which  they  proposed  to  celebrate 
the  duke’s  departure.  In  the  precarious  situation  of  the 
royal  house  of  Naples  it  would  have  been  impolitic  for 
Alphonzo  to  afford  Alexander  the  slightest  pretext  for  a 
rupture ;  he  was  reluctant,  therefore,  to  refuse  without 
sufficient  reason,  and  so  betook  himself  to  Rome.  It  was 
thought  to  be  useless  to  consult  Lucrezia  in  the  matter, 
for  on  two  or  three  occasions  she  had  shown  signs  of  an 
absurd  attachment  for  her  husband,  and  she  was  left  un¬ 
disturbed  in  her  petty  government  of  Spoleto. 

Alphonzo  was  welcomed  by  the  pope  and  the  Due  de 
Valentinois  with  every  indication  of  sincere  friendship, 
and  they  gave  him  the  suite  of  rooms  he  formerly  occu¬ 
pied  with  Lucrezia  in  that  wing  of  the  Vatican  called 
Torre-Nova. 

Spacious  lists  were  prepared  on  the  Square  of  St. 
Peter’s,  and  the  streets  leading  into  the  square  were  bar¬ 
ricaded.  The  neighboring  houses  afforded  private  boxes 
already  made  at  their  windows.  The  pope  and  his  court 
were  on  the  balcony  of  the  Vatican. 

The  performance  was  begun  by  hired  toreadors  ;  when 
they  had  given  a  satisfactory  exhibition  of  their  strength 


188 


THE  BORGIAS. 


and  dexterity,  Alphonzo  of  Aragon  and  Caesar  Borgia 
descended  into  the  arena,  and  to  demonstrate  the  har¬ 
monious  relations  which  existed  between  them  it  was 
agreed  that  the  bull  which  pursued  Caesar  should  be 
slain  by  Alphonzo,  and  that  Caesar  should  deal  with  the 
one  which  pursued  Alphonzo. 

Caesar,  in  the  first  place,  remained  alone  on  horseback 
in  the  arena  while  Alphonzo  went  out  through  a  gateway 
cut  in  one  of  the  barricades,  and  left  it  half  open  so  that 
he  could  return  when  his  presence  became  necessary.  At 
the  same  time  the  bull  was  admitted  from  the  opposite 
side,  and  was  instantly  assailed  with  a  shower  of  darts 
and  arrows,  some  of  which  contained  powder  which  ex¬ 
ploded,  and  irritated  the  bull  to  such  a  point  that,  after 
he  had  rolled  on  the  ground  in  agony,  he  rose  again  in 
a  frenzy  of  rage,  and  spying  a  man  on  horseback  made 
a  frantic  rush  at  him.  Thereupon,  in  that  confined 
space,  pursued  by  a  nimble-footed  and  infuriated  beast, 
Csesar  displayed  the  marvelous  grace  and  dexterity 
which  made  him  one  of  the  finest  horsemen  of  his  time. 
Notwithstanding  his  great  skill  and  address,  however,  he 
could  not  long  have  eluded,  in  such  a  narrow  space,  an 
adversary  from  whom  he  had  no  means  of  escape  but 
flight,  had  not  Alphonzo  suddenly  appeared,  waving  a 
red  cloak  in  his  left  hand,  while  in  his  right  he  held 
a  long,  keen  Aragonese  sword. 

It  was  high  time,  for  the  bull  was  but  a  few  paces  dis¬ 
tant  from  Csesar,  and  his  peril  seemed  so  imminent  that 
a  woman  shrieked  at  one  of  the  windows ;  but,  at  sight 
of  a  man  on  foot,  the  bull  stopped  short,  and  concluding 
that  he  could  make  shorter  work  of  his  new  enemy  than 
of  the  old,  turned  upon  him,  and  after  standing  still  for 
a  moment,  bellowing,  raising  clouds  of  dust  with  his 
hind  feet,  and  lashing  his  sides  with  his  tail,  rushed  upon 


THE  BORGIAS. 


189 


Alphonzo  with  blood-shot  eyes,  ploughing  up  the  ground 
with  his  horns.  Alphonzo  calmly  awaited  the  onslaught, 
and  when  he  was  within  three  feet  leaped  aside,  aiming 
a  blow  at  him  as  he  passed  with  his  sword,  which  was 
buried  up  to  the  hilt ;  the  bull  at  once  came  to  a  stand¬ 
still,  stood  for  an  instant,  tottering  on  his  legs,  then  fell 
upon  his  knees  with  a  hoarse  bellow,  and  at  last  rolled 
over  dead  upon  the  very  spot  where  he  was  struck. 

Loud  applause  burst  from  all  sides,  the  blow  was  de¬ 
livered  so  skilfully  and  quickly.  Caesar  remained  on 
his  horse  and  instead  of  interesting  himself  in  what  was 
going  on  about  him,  was  seeking  to  discover  the  fair 
spectator  who  had  given  so  pronounced  an  indication  of 
her  interest  in  him.  His  search  was  not  fruitless ;  he 
recognized  one  of  the  maids  of  honor  of  Elizabeth, 
Duchess  of  Urbino,  who  was  betrothed  to  Giovanni 
Caracciolo,  captain  general  of  the  Republic  of  Venice. 

It  was  now  Alphonzo’s  turn  to  run  and  Caesar’s  to  fight ; 
they  exchanged  parts,  therefore,  and  while  four  mules 
with  much  ado  were  dragging  off  the  body  of  the  dead 
bull,  and  the  valets  and  servants  of  his  Holiness  were 
bringing  sand  to  cover  up  the  spot  of  blood,  Alphonzo 
mounted  a  superb  Andalusian  steed,  of  Arabian  ances¬ 
try,  swift  as  the  wind  which  blew  upon  his  mother  in  the 
Desert  of  Sahara.  Caesar,  on  the  other  hand,  alighted 
and  left  the  arena,  to  return  when  Alphonzo  should  be 
in  the  same  dangerous  plight  from  which  he  had  just 
rescued  him. 

Another  bull  was  then  introduced,  and  driven  frantic 
in  the  same  way  by  pointed  darts  and  burning  arrows. 
Like  the  first,  when  he  spied  a  man  on  horseback,  he 
rushed  upon  him,  and  thereupon  began  a  wonderful 
trial  of  speed,  in  which,  so  swiftly  did  they  pass  and  re¬ 
pass,  it  was  impossible  to  tell  which  it  was,  whether  bull 


190 


THE  BORGIAS. 


or  horse  which  was  pursuing  the  other.  But,  after  they 
had  made  the  circuit  of  the  arena  five  or  six  times,  the 
bull  began  to  gain  upon  the  son  of  Arabia,  fleet  as  he 
was,  and  one  could  distinguish  between  pursuer  and  pur¬ 
sued.  An  instant  more,  and  there  was  only  the  length 
of  a  lance  between  them,  when  suddenly  Caesar  Borgia 
appeared  in  his  turn,  armed  with  one  of  the  long  two- 
handed  swords  commonly  used  by  the  French. 

As  the  bull,  hot  on  the  track  of  Don  Alphonzo,  passed 
in  front  of  him,  Caesar,  whirling  his  sword  through  the 
air  like  a  flash  of  lightning,  cut  off  his  head,  which  fell 
to  the  ground,  while  his  body  carried  on  by  the  force  of 
inertia,  fell  ten  paces  farther  on.  The  blow  was  so 
entirely  unexpected  and  was  dealt  with  such  marvelous 
dexterity,  that  it  was  greeted  not  with  mere  applause, 
but  with  frantic  enthusiasm  and  frenzied  cries.  Caesar 
meanwhile  acted  as  if  he  had  forgotten  everything,  even 
at  the  moment  of  his  triumph,  except  the  shriek  called 
forth  by  his  danger  in  the  first  encounter  ;  he  picked  up 
the  bull’s  head  and  handed  it  to  one  of  his  squires,  order¬ 
ing  him  to  lay  it  at  the  feet  of  the  fair  Venetian  who  had 
demonstrated  her  sympathy  for  him  so  unmistakably. 

This  function  had  another  purpose  besides  the  giving 
each  of  the  young  men  an  opportunity  to  display  his 
prowess ;  it  was  designed  to  prove  to  the  common  people 
that  the  best  of  good  feeling  reigned  between  them,  since 
each  had  saved  the  other’s  life.  Thenceforth,  if  any 
mishap  should  befall  Caesar  no  one  would  think  of  ac¬ 
cusing  Alphonzo  of  causing  it ;  and  in  like  manner  no 
one  would  lay  at  Caesar’s  door  the  responsibility  for  any¬ 
thing  that  might  happen  to  Alphonzo. 

There  was  to  be  a  supper  party  at  the  Vatican  :  Al¬ 
phonzo  arrayed  himself  with  great  care,  and  about  ten 
in  the  evening  started  to  go  from  the  wing  in  which  he 


THE  BORGIAS. 


191 


was  quartered  to  the  part  of  the  palace  occupied  by  the 
pope.  But  the  door  between  the  two  court-yards  was 
fastened,  and,  knock  as  he  would,  no  one  came  to  open 
it.  It  then  occurred  to  him  that  it  would  be  a  simple 
matter  to  go  around  through  the  Square  of  St.  Peter’s  ; 
so  he  went  out  unattended  through  a  gate  of  the  Vatican 
gardens,  and  walked  through  the  dark  streets  leading  to 
the  stairway  which  led  up  to  the  square.  But  he  had  no 
sooner  placed  his  foot  in  the  first  step  than  he  was  set  upon 
by  a  party  of  armed  men.  He  tried  to  draw  his  sword  ; 
but  before  it  was  out  of  his  scabbard  he  received  two 
blows  from  a  halberd,  one  on  the  head  and  the  other  on 
the  shoulder,  a  sword  thrust  on  the  side,  and  two  cuts  on 
the  temple  and  the  leg.  He  fell  senseless  to  the  ground  ; 
his  assassins,  believing  him  dead,  ran  hastily  up  the 
stairs,  and  found  forty  horsemen  awaiting  them,  under 
whose  escort  they  left  the  city  unhindered,  by  the 
Portese  Gate. 

Alphonzo  was  discovered  by  passers  by  in  a  moribund 
condition,  but  not  dead  ;  some  of  them  recognized  him, 
and  at  once  carried  the  news  of  the  murder  to  the  Vati¬ 
can,  while  the  others  took  him  in  their  arms  and  carried 
him  to  his  apartment  in  the  Torre-Nova.  The  pope 
and  Csesar,  who  received  the  intelligence  just  as  they 
were  taking  their  places  at  the  table,  were  apparently 
so  overcome  by  it,  that  they  left  their  guests  and  went  im¬ 
mediately  to  Don  Alphonzo’s  bedside,  to  make  sure 
whether  his  wounds  were  or  were  not  mortal.  The  next 
morning,  in  order  to  turn  aside  the  suspicion  which 
might  have  fallen  upon  them,  they  caused  the  arrest  of 
Francesco  Gazella,  Alphonzo’s  maternal  uncle,  who  ac¬ 
companied  his  nephew  to  Rome.  False  witnesses  con¬ 
victed  him  of  being  the  author  of  the  murder,  and  his 
head  was  cut  off. 


192 


THE  BOKGIAS. 


But  only  half  of  the  task  was  done ;  suspicion  was 
turned  aside  to  such  an  extent  that  no  one  would  ever 
dare  to  accuse  the  real  assassins  ;  hut  Alphonzo  was  not 
dead,  and  by  virtue  of  his  vigorous  constitution  and  the 
skill  of  his  physicians,  who  took  the  pretended  grief  of 
the  pope  and  his  son  seriously,  and  believed  that  the  re¬ 
covery  of  the  patient  would  be  agreeable  to  them,  he 
was  progressing  favorably  toward  convalescence.  At 
the  same  time  the  news  arrived  that  Lucrezia,  having 
heard  of  the  attack  upon  her  husband,  proposed  to  come 
to  Rome  and  nurse  him  herself.  There  was  no  time  to 
be  lost,  so  Csesar  sent  for  Michelotto. 

a  That  same  night,”  says  Benchard,  “  Don  Alphonzo, 
who  declined  to  die  of  his  wounds,  was  strangled  in  his 
bed.” 

The  next  day  his  obsequies  took  place,  and  if  they 
were  not  on  a  scale  of  magnificence  suited  to  his  rank, 
they  were  at  least  respectable.  Don  Francesco  Borgia, 
Archbishop  of  Cosenza,  acted  as  chief  mourner  at  St. 
Peter’s,  where  the  body  was  interred  in  the  chapel  of 
Santa  Maria. 

Lucrezia  reached  Rome  the  night  after  the  funeral. 
She  knew  her  father  and  brother  too  well  to  be  the  dupe 
of  their  pretended  grief ;  and  although  Csesar,  immedi¬ 
ately  upon  Don  Alphonzo’s  demise,  caused  the  arrest  of 
his  physicians  and  surgeons,  as  well  as  a  poor  devil  of  a 
hunchback  who  was  his  valet-de-chambre,  she  saw  at 
once  whence  the  blow  came.  And  so,  fearing  that  her 
own  sorrow,  which  was  genuine  enough  this  time,  might 
deprive  her  of  her  father’s  and  brother’s  confidence,  she 
withdrew  to  Nepi  with  her  whole  household,  her  whole 
court,  and  more  than  six  hundred  horsemen,  there  to 
pass  her  period  of  mourning. 

This  momentous  family  affair  adjusted,  and  Lucrezia 


THE  BORG  IAS 


Don  Alphonso  of  Aragon ,  husband  of  L it¬ 
er  ezia,  murdered  by  order  of  the  Borgias . 


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THE  BORGIAS. 


193 


once  more  a  widow,  and  therefore  ready  to  make  herself 
useful  in  the  pope’s  new  political  combinations,  Caesar 
Borgia  remained  at  Rome  only  long  enough  to  receive 
the  ambassadors  of  France  and  Venice.  But  as  their 
coming  was  somewhat  delayed,  and  as  the  numerous 
fetes  recently  given  had  created  a  vacuum  in  the  pope’s 
treasure  chest,  he  employed  the  interval  in  creating 
twelve  new  cardinals.  This  step  had  a  twofold  result ; 
it  brought  six  hundred  thousand  ducats  into  the  chest, 
each  hat  being  valued  at  fifty  thousand,  and  it  gave  the 
pope  an  absolutely  certain  majority  in  the  Sacred  College. 

The  ambassadors  at  last  arrived.  M.  Villeneuve,  the 
same  who  came  to  Rome  once  before  in  the  name  of  the 
King  of  France  to  take  Caesar  Borgia  back  with  him, 
met  on  the  road,  as  he  was  about  to  enter  the  city,  a 
masked  man  who,  without  removing  his  mask,  expressed 
his  great  delight  at  his  arrival.  It  was  Caesar  himself ; 
not  wishing  to  be  recognized  he  left  the  ambassador  after 
a  short  conversation,  without  having  exposed  his  fea¬ 
tures.  M.  Villeneuve  followed  him  into  the  city,  and 
found  at  the  Porta  del  Popolo  the  ambassadors  of  all  the 
different  powers,  even  those  of  Spain  and  Naples,  whose 
sovereigns  were  not  as  yet,  it  is  true,  openly  hostile  to 
France,  although  relations  between  them  were  beginning 
to  be  decidedly  strained. 

The  Spanish  and  Neapolitan  ambassadors,  fearful  of 
compromising  themselves,  greeted  their  French  colleague 
with  the  simple  phrase  :  “  welcome,  Signor ;  ”  whereupon 
the  master  of  ceremonies,  surprised  at  such  a  curt  greet¬ 
ing,  asked  them  if  they  had  nothing  further  to  say.  They 
answered  no,  and  M.  Villeneuve  at  once  turned  his  back 
on  them  with  the  retort  that  those  who  had  nothing  to 
say  required  no  reply.  He  then  took  his  place  between 
the  Archbishop  of  Reggio,  Governor  of  Rome,  and  the 

Vol.  II.— 13. 


194 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Archbishop  of  Ragusa,  and  rode  to  the  palace  of  the 
Holy  Apostles  which  had  been  prepared  for  his  reception. 

A  few  days  later  Maria  Georgi,  ambassador  extra¬ 
ordinary  of  the  Venetian  Republic,  arrived  at  Rome  in 
his  turn.  His  mission  was  not  only  to  deal  with  the 
ordinary  relations  between  the  two  powers ;  he  had  it 
also  in  charge  to  bear  to  Alexander  and  Csesar  patents  of 
nobility,  and  the  records  showing  that  their  names  had 
been  inscribed  in  the  Book  of  Gold,  an  honor  which 
both  had  long  been  ambitious  to  obtain,  less  for  the 
empty  glory  it  would  bring  them  than  for  the  additional 
influence  they  might  hope  to  reap  from  it. 

The  pope  then  proceeded  to  deliver  the  cardinal’s  hats 
to  the  recent  purchasers  thereof.  These  new  princes  of 
the  church  were  Don  Diego  Mendoza,  Archbishop  of 
Seville ;  Giacomo,  Archbishop  of  Oristagny,  the  pope’s 
vicar-general ;  Tommaso,  Archbishop  of  Strigonia ; 
Pietro,  Archbishop  of  Reggio,  and  Governor  of  Rome ; 
Francesco  Borgia,  Archbishop  of  Cosenza,  Treasurer- 
general  ;  Giovanni,  Archbishop  of  Salerno,  Vice¬ 
chamberlain  ;  Ludovico  Borgia,  Archbishop  of  Valencia, 
Secretary  to  his  Holiness  and  brother  of  Giovanni  Bor¬ 
gia,  poisoned  by  Caesar ;  Antonio,  Bishop  of  Como ; 
Giovanni-Batista  Ferrara,  Bishop  of  Modena;  Amedee 
d’Albret,  son  of  the  King  of  Navarre  and  Caesar’s 
brother-in-law  ;  and  lastly  Marco  Cornaro,  a  Venetian  of 
noble  birth,  in  whose  person  the  Holy  Father  recipro¬ 
cated  the  honor  conferred  upon  him  by  the  most  serene 
republic. 

As  there  was  nothing  more  to  delay  the  departure  of 
the  Due  de  Valentinois,  he  took  just  so  much  time  as 
was  necessary  to  negotiate  a  loan  with  a  wealthy  banker, 
Augustine  Chigi,  brother  of  Lorenzo  Chigi,  who  met  his 
death  on  the  day  of  the  pope’s  hairbreadth  escape  from 


THE  BORGIAS. 


195 


the  falling  chimney ;  then,  with  his  treasure-chest  well 
supplied,  set  out  for  Romagna,  accompanied  by  Vitellozo 
Vitelli,  Giovanni  Paolo  Baglione,  and  Giacomo  di  Santa- 
Croce,  who  were  at  this  time  his  friends,  but  were  later 
to  be  his  victims. 

Caesar’s  first  enterprise  was  directed  against  Pesaro  a 
brotherly  attention  of  which  Giovanni  Sforza  realized 
the  probable  results ;  and  instead  of  trying  to  defend 
his  dominions  by  force  of  arms,  or  to  obtain  advantage¬ 
ous  terms  by  negotiation,  he  besought  his  subjects  to  hold 
him  in  affectionate  remembrance  in  the  hope  of  better 
days  to  come,  and  fled  into  Dalmatia,  not  wishing  to  ex¬ 
pose  the  fair  land  of  which  he  had  so  long  been  master 
to  the  vengeance  of  an  exasperated  enemy.  Malatesta, 
lord  of  Rimini  followed  his  example,  so  that  Caesar  took 
possession  of  both  those  places  without  striking  a  blow. 
Leaving  a  sufficient  garrison  in  each  of  them  he  marched 
upon  Faenza. 

There,  matters  took  a  different  turn.  Faenza  was 
then  ruled  by  Astor  Manfredi,  a  handsome  and  gallant 
youth  of  eighteen.  He  was  abandoned  by  the  Benti- 
vogli  his  near  kinsmen,  and  by  the  Venetians  and 
Florentines,  his  allies,  who  did  not  dare  to  send  him 
succor,  because  of  the  friendship  of  the  King  of  France 
for  Csesar ;  but  he  resolved  nevertheless,  knowing  the 
deep  affection  of  his  subjects  for  his  family,  to  defend 
the  place  to  the  last  extremity.  And  so,  when  he  learned 
that  the  Due  de  Valentinois  was  marching  against  him 
he  assembled  in  all  haste  such  of  his  vassals  as  were  in 
condition  to  bear  arms,  and  the  few  foreign  troops  who 
would  consent  to  enter  his  service,  and  shut  himself  up 
with  them  in  the  town,  after  laying  in  an  abundant 
supply  of  provisions  and  ammunition. 

These  preparations  for  defence  disturbed  Csesar  but 


196 


THE  BORGIAS. 


little.  He  had  a  magnificent  army,  made  up  of  the  best 
troops  of  France  and  Italy,  and  which  numbered  among 
its  officers,  aside  from  himself,  Paolo  and  Guilio  Orsino, 
Vitellozo  Vitelli,  and  Paolo  Baglione,  who  were  the  first 
captains  of  the  time.  Having  carefully  reconnoitered 
the  place,  therefore,  he  at  once  began  siege  operations  by 
pitching  his  camp  between  the  rivers  Amona  and 
Marziano  and  placing  his  artillery  on  the  side  of  the 
town  toward  Forli,  where  the  besieged  had  erected  a 
strong  earthwork. 

After  some  few  days  of  opening  trenches,  a  practicable 
breach  was  made,  and  the  Due  de  Yalentinois  ordered 
an  assault,  himself  setting  the  example  to  his  men  by 
leading  the  way.  But,  despite  his  rash  courage,  and 
that  of  the  captains  who  accompanied  him,  Astor  Man- 
fredi  made  such  an  heroic  defence  that  the  besiegers  were 
driven  back  with  great  loss,  leaving  in  the  moat  Honorio 
Savello,  one  of  their  most  gallant  leaders. 

Faenza,  however,  notwithstanding  the  courage  and 
devotion  of  its  defenders,  could  not  long  have  held  out 
against  so  formidable  an  army,  if  winter  had  not  come 
to  its  aid.  Unexpectedly  overtaken  by  the  rigors  of 
that  season  without  shelter  for  his  troops  and  with  no 
wood  to  build  fires,  the  peasants  having  demolished  the 
houses,  and  carted  away  the  wood,  Caesar  was  obliged  to 
raise  the  siege,  and  go  into  winter  quarters  in  the  neigh¬ 
boring  towns,  in  order  to  be  prepared  for  the  return  of 
spring.  For  he  could  not  forgive  a  small  town  which 
had  been  long  at  peace,  was  governed  by  a  child,  and  was 
entirely  without  help  from  abroad,  for  holding  him  thus 
at  bay,  and  he  had  sworn  to  have  his  revenge.  He 
divided  his  army  into  three  parts,  sent  one  to  Immola, 
one  to  Forli,  and  fixed  his  own  headquarters  with  the 
third  at  Cesena,  which  was  suddenly  transformed  from  a 


THE  B0RGIA8. 


197 


third-rate  town  into  a  city  of  luxury  and  debauchery. 
Csesar’s  mind  was  so  active  that  he  required  to  be  un¬ 
ceasingly  employed  either  in  war  or  in  dissipation ;  and 
when  the  war  was  necessarily  interrupted,  the  fi§tes 
began,  as  gorgeous  and  wanton  as  he  knew  how  to  make 
them;  the  days  were  passed  in  games  and  riding  parties  ; 
the  nights  in  dancing  and  debauchery ;  for  the  most 
beautiful  women  in  all  Romagna  flocked  to  his  camp, 
and  formed  a  seraglio  which  the  Sultan  of  Egypt  or  the 
Emperor  of  Constantinople  might  have  envied  him. 

While  the  Due  de  Yalentinois  was  riding  one  day  in 
the  outskirts  of  the  town,  with  the  court  of  fawning 
noblemen  and  titled  courtesans,  who  never  left  him,  he 
encountered  upon  the  Rimini  road  a  cortege  of  such  size 
as  to  indicate  that  it  was  in  attendance  upon  some  person 
of  rank.  He  soon  discovered  that  that  person  was  a 
woman,  and  on  drawing  nearer  recognized  the  same  at¬ 
tendant  of  the  Duchess  of  Urbino,  who  shrieked  her 
sympathy  when  he  was  so  near  being  gored  by  the  in¬ 
furiated  bull.  She  was,  as  we  then  said,  betrothed  to 
Giovanni  Caracciolo,  the  Venetian  general.  Her 
patroness  and  godmother,  Elizabeth  of  Gonzaga,  was  now 
sending  her,  with  a  fitting  retinue,  to  Venice,  where  the 
marriage  was  to  be  solemnized. 

The  young  woman’s  exceeding  beauty  made  an  im¬ 
pression  upon  Csesar  at  Rome :  but  meeting  her  thus, 
she  seemed  to  him  even  more  beautiful  than  before,  and 
he  determined  on  the  instant  to  keep  for  himself  this 
sweet  flower  of  love,  having  more  than  once  reproached 
himself  for  passing  her  by  so  heedlessly.  He  greeted 
her  as  an  old  acquaintance,  and  inquired  if  she  did  not 
propose  to  tarry  some  time  at  Cesena,  but  she  replied 
that  her  coming  was  so  impatiently  awaited,  that  she 
was  making  long  stages,  and  expected  to  lie  at  Forli 


198 


THE  BORGIAS. 


that  night.  This  was  all  that  Caesar  wanted  to  know : 
he  summoned  Michelotto,  and  said  a  few  words  to  him 
in  an  undertone. 

The  party  made  but  a  very  brief  stay  at  Cesena,  and 
went  on  again  toward  Forli,  although  the  day  was  far 
advanced.  They  had  made  less  than  a  league  when  a 
party  of  horsemen  from  Cesena  overtook  and  surrounded 
them.  Although  greatly  outnumbered,  the  soldiers  of 
the  escort  essayed  to  defend  their  general’s  bride :  but 
some  of  them  were  killed,  and  the  others  fled  in  terror. 
The  young  lady  descended  from  her  litter  and  tried  to 
escape,  but  the  leader  seized  her  and  placed  her  before 
him  on  his  horse,  ordered  his  men  to  return  to  Cesena 
without  him,  and  galloped  away  across  the  fields  and  out 
of  sight,  just  as  the  twilight  was  falling. 

Caracciolo  learned  of  this  abduction  from  one  of  the 
fugitives,  who  insisted  that  he  recognized  the  abductors 
as  soldiers  in  the  employ  of  the  Due  de  Valentinois. 
At  first,  he  was  so  reluctant  to  believe  anything  so  ter¬ 
rible,  that  he  thought  he  could  not  have  heard  aright ; 
but,  being  convinced  at  last,  he  stood  for  a  moment  with¬ 
out  word  or  movement,  as  if  turned  to  stone.  But  sud¬ 
denly  he  roused  himself  from  his  stupor  with  a  cry  for 
vengeance,  and  rushed  to  the  Ducal  palace,  wheie  the 
doge  and  the  Council  of  Ten  were  in  session.  He  forced 
his  way  to  their  presence  without  being  announced,  just 
as  they  had  themselves  been  advised  of  Caesar’s  crime. 

“  Most  Serene  Signori,”  he  cried,  “  I  have  come  to 
take  leave  of  you,  being  fully  resolved  to  sacrifice  in  the 
cause  of  my  own  vengeance,  the  life  which  I  believed  I 
might  devote  to  the  service  of  the  republic.  I  have 
been  outraged  in  the  noblest  part  of  my  being — my 
honor.  My  most  precious  treasure  has  been  stolen  from 
me — my  promised  bride.  And  he  who  has  done  this 


THE  BORGIAS. 


199 


thing  is  the  most  treacherous,  the  most  impious,  the  most 
infamous  of  men — Yalentinois !  Be  not  offended, 
Signori,  that  I  speak  thus  of  a  man  who  boasts  that  he 
is  of  your  nobility  and  entitled  to  your  protection.  He 
is  not,  he  lies  !  his  dastardly  deeds  and  his  crimes  make 
him  unworthy  of  either  distinction,  as  he  is  unworthy  of 
the  life  which  I  will  wrest  from  him  with  this  sword. 
’Tis  true  that  such  a  man,  sacrilegious  by  birth,  a  fratri¬ 
cide,  a  usurper  of  other  people’s  property,  an  oppressor 
of  the  innocent,  a  highwayman,  a  man  who  violates  all 
laws,  even  those  of  hospitality,  which  are  held  in  respect 
among  the  least  civilized  peoples,  a  man  who  does  violence 
in  his  own  dominions  to  a  maiden  passing  through,  when 
she  had  the  right  to  expect  from  him  the  respect  due  not  to 
her  sex  and  rank  alone,  but  to  the  most  serene  republic, 
whose  general  I  am,  and  which  he  insults  in  my  person 
by  dishonoring  my  bride ;  it  is  true,  I  say,  that  such  a 
man  deserves  to  die  by  some  other  hand  than  mine. 
But,  as  he  whose  duty  it  is  to  punish  him,  is  a  father  as 
guilty  as  his  son,  instead  of  being  an  incorruptible  judge, 
I  will  myself  seek  him  out,  and  will  sacrifice  my  life,  not 
only  to  avenge  my  own  wrongs  and  the  blood  of  so  many 
innocent  ones,  but  to  secure  the  welfare  of  the  most 
serene  republic,  which  he  aspires  and  intends  to  grind 
beneath  his  heel  after  he  has  subjugated  the  other  princes 
of  Italy.” 

The  doge  and  the  senators,  who,  as  we  have  seen  were 
already  aware  of  the  occurrence  which  brought  Carac- 
ciolo  into  their  presence,  listened  to  him  with  great  in¬ 
terest  and  indignation ;  as  he  truly  said,  they  were 
themselves  outraged  in  the  person  of  their  general,  and 
they  all  swore  upon  their  honor  that,  if  he  would  trust 
the  affair  to  them  instead  of  giving  way  to  his  wrath, 
which  would  inevitably  be  his  ruin,  his  wife  should  be 


200 


THE  BORGIAS. 


restored  to  him  without  a  single  stain  upon  her  bridal 
veil  or  his  vengeance  should  be  apportioned  to  the  insult. 

Thereupon,  as  a  proof  of  the  zeal  with  which  they 
entered  upon  the  matter,  the  august  body  at  once 
despatched  Ludovico  Manenti,  secretary  of  the  Ten,  to 
Immola,  where  the  duke  was  said  to  be,  to  bear  witness 
to  the  displeasure  of  the  most  serene  republic  on  account 
of  the  outrage  put  upon  its  general.  At  the  same  time 
the  doge  and  the  Ten  called  upon  the  French  ambassador 
to  add  his  influence  to  theirs,  and  to  go  in  person  with 
Manenti  to  the  Due  de  Valentinois,  and  summon  him,  in 
the  name  of  King  Louis  XII.  to  send  the  victim  of  the 
abduction  to  Venice  on  the  instant. 

The  messengers  went  to  Immola,  where  they  found 
Caesar.  He  listened  to  their  demand  with  admirably 
feigned  astonishment,  denying  all  knowledge  of  or  parti¬ 
cipation  in  the  crime,  and  fully  authorized  Manenti  and 
the  French  ambassador  to  hunt  down  the  perpetrators, 
promising  to  investigate  the  matter  thoroughly  himself. 

He  spoke  with  such  an  appearance  of  perfect  good 
faith,  that  the  envoys  were  deceived  for  the  moment  and 
began  a  most  minute  investigation.  They  went  to  the 
spot  where  the  abduction  took  place,  and  made  searching 
inquiries.  The  people  in  the  neighborhood  found  the 
dead  and  wounded  lying  on  the  highway ;  they  saw  a 
mounted  man  gallop  by  carrying  a  weeping  woman 
across  his  saddle,  and  strike  across  the  fields.  A  peasant 
returning  from  his  work  saw  him  appear  and  vanish  like 
a  shadow  in  the  direction  of  an  isolated  house.  An  old 
woman  said  she  saw  him  enter  the  house.  But  during 
the  night  the  house  disappeared  as  if  by  magic  and  the 
plow  was  driven  over  its  site ;  so  that  no  one  could  say 
what  had  become  of  her  whom  they  sought,  since 
neither  the  house  itself,  nor  its  occupants  were  to  be  found. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


201 


Manenti  and  the  French  ambassador  returned  to 
Venice,  and  related  what  the  Due  de  Valentinois  said 
to  them,  what  steps  they  took,  and  how  their  investiga¬ 
tions  led  to  no  result.  No  one  had  the  least  doubt  that 
Caesar  was  the  culprit,  but  no  one  could  prove  that  he 
was.  And  so  the  serene  republic,  which  could  not  afford 
to  fall  out  with  the  pope,  having  a  war  with  the  Turks  on 
its  hands,  forbade  Caracciolo  to  take  any  measures  to 
avenge  himself,  and  the  excitement  over  the  abduction 
gradually  died  away  until  at  last  it  ceased  to  be  spoken 
of.  Meanwhile  the  relaxations  of  the  winter  did  not  di¬ 
vert  Caesar  from  his  designs  upon  Faenza.  As  soon  as 
the  returning  spring  permitted  him  to  take  the  field,  he 
marched  against  the  town  once  more,  camped  in  front  of 
the  castle,  and  having  made  a  new  breach,  ordered  a 
general  assault,  leading  the  way  himself  as  before.  But, 
notwithstanding  his  individual  gallantry,  well  seconded 
as  it  was  by  his  men,  the  assault  was  repulsed  by  Astor, 
who,  at  the  head  of  his  men,  stood  his  ground  at  the 
breach,  while  the  women  hurled  down  stones  and  tree- 
trunks  upon  the  besiegers  from  the  top  of  the  ramparts. 
After  an  hour’s  hand  to  hand  struggle  Caesar  was  com¬ 
pelled  to  retire,  leaving  two  thousand  men  in  the 
trenches,  among  them  Valentino  Farnese,  one  of  his 
bravest  officers. 

Realizing  after  this  failure  that  assaults  were  as  inef¬ 
fectual  as  excommunication,  Caesar  converted  the  siege 
into  a  blockade.  All  the  roads  leading  to  Faenza  were 
obstructed  and  all  lines  of  communication  broken.  As 
there  had  been  several  indications  of  rebellion  at  Cesena, 
he  installed  as  governor  there,  a  man  whom  he  knew  to 
have  an  inflexible  will,  one  Ramiro  d’Orco,  with  power 
of  life  and  death  over  the  people.  Then  he  sat  calmly 
down  before  Faenza,  to  wait  until  hunger  should  drive 


202 


THE  BORGIAS. 


the  inhabitants  forth  from  those  walls  which  they  de¬ 
fended  with  such  desperate  determination.  At  the  ex¬ 
piration  of  a  month,  during  which  they  underwent  all 
the  horrors  of  famine,  they  sent  a  flag  of  truce  to  Caesar’s 
camp  to  propose  a  capitulation.  There  was  so  much  left 
for  him  to  do  in  Romagna,  that  he  was  more  amenable 
to  reason  than  they  dared  to  hope,  and  the  town  surren¬ 
dered  on  condition  that  neither  the  persons  nor  property 
of  the  people  should  be  molested,  that  Astor  Manfredi 
should  be  free  to  go  where  he  pleased  and  should  enjoy 
the  income  of  his  patrimony  wherever  he  might  be. 

These  terms  were  faithfully  observed  so  far  as  the  in¬ 
habitants  were  concerned ;  but  when  Caesar’s  eyes  fell 
upon  Astor,  whom  he  did  not  know,  he  was  seized  with 
a  strange  passion  for  the  handsome  youth  whose  beauty 
was  almost  feminine  in  its  quality.  He  kept  him  with 
him  in  his  army,  treating  him  with  the  respect  due  to  a 
young  prince,  and  appearing  to  entertain  the  greatest 
friendship  for  him.  Then  one  day  Astor  disappeared,  as 
Caracciolo’s  fiance  had  done,  and  no  one  knew  what 
had  become  of  him.  Caesar  himself  seemed  much  dis¬ 
turbed,  said  that  he  had  doubtless  fled,  and  to  encourage 
a  belief  in  his  flight  sent  couriers  after  him  in  all  direc¬ 
tions. 

A  year  after  these  occurrences  there  were  found  in  the 
Tiber,  a  short  distance  below  the  Castle  of  San  Angelo, 
the  bodies  of  a  lovely  young  woman,  with  her  hands  tied 
behind  her  back,  and  a  handsome  youth,  with  the  cord 
with  which  he  had  been  strangled  still  about  his  neck. 
The  young  woman  was  Caracciolo’s  fiance,  and  the 
youth  was  Astor. 

Both  had  ministered  to  Caesar’s  pleasures  during  the 
year,  and  when  at  last  he  grew  weary  of  them  he  had 
them  thrown  into  the  Tiber. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


203 


The  taking  of  Faenza  procured  for  Caesar  the  title  of 
Duke  of  Romagna,  which  was  in  the  first  place  conferred 
upon  him  in  full  consistory,  and  was  afterward  ratified 
by  the  King  of  Hungary,  the  Republic  of  Venice,  and 
the  Kings  of  Castile  and  Portugal.  The  news  of  the 
ratification  arrived  at  Rome  on  the  eve  of  the  day  when 
the  people  were  accustomed  to  celebrate  the  anniversary 
of  the  founding  of  the  Eternal  City.  This  festival, 
which  dated  back  to  the  time  of  Pomponius  Laetus,  was 
observed  with  more  pomp  than  ever  on  account  of  the 
good  fortune  which  seemed  to  follow  the  pope  and  his 
family.  Guns  were  fired  all  day  as  a  token  of  the 
public  delight ;  in  the  evening  there  were  illuminations 
and  fireworks ;  and  the  Prince  of  Squillace,  with  the  most 
distinguished  members  of  the  Roman  nobility,  spent  the 
greater  part  of  the  night  roaming  through  the  streets 
with  torches  in  their  hands,  shouting :  “  Long  live  Alex¬ 
ander  !  Long  live  Caesar !  Long  live  the  Borgias !  Long 
live  the  Orsini !  Long  live  the  Duke  of  Romagna !  ” 
Meanwhile  Caesar’s  ambition  soared  higher  and  higher 
with  his  successes.  He  was  no  sooner  master  of  Faenza 
than  he  cast  his  eyes  upon  Bologna,  incited  thereto  by 
the  Marescotti,  long  time  enemies  of  the  Bentivogli. 
But  Giovanni  di  Bentivoglio,  whose  ancestors  had  ruled 
over  the  city  from  time  immemorial,  had  taken  warning 
from  the  fate  of  his  neighbors,  and  made  every  prepara¬ 
tion  for  a  sturdy  resistance,  besides  placing  himself  under 
the  protection  of  France.  So  that,  as  soon  as  he  learned 
that  Caesar  was  marching  at  the  head  of  his  army  toward 
the  Bolognese  frontier,  he  sent  a  courier  to  Louis  XII. 
to  demand  the  fulfillment  of  his  promise.  Louis  re¬ 
sponded  to  the  appeal  with  his  customary  good  faith, 
and  when  Caesar  arrived  before  Bologna,  he  received  an 
intimation  from  the  King  of  France  that  he  had  best 


204 


THE  BORGIAS. 


not  attempt  to  carry  out  any  design  upon  the  well-being 
of  his  ally.  But  Caesar  was  not  the  man  to  take  so 
much  trouble  for  nothing,  and  so  he  proposed  certain 
conditions  on  which  he  would  consent  to  retire,  and 
Bentivoglio  agreed  to  them,  only  too  happy  to  be  quit 
of  him  at  that  price.  He  agreed  to  cede  Castel  Bolog¬ 
nese,  a  fortress  between  Immola  and  Faenza,  to  pay  a 
tribute  of  nine  thousand  ducats,  and  to  furnish  him  with 
a  hundred  men-at-arms  and  two  thousand  infantry.  In 
exchange  for  these  concessions  Caesar  confided  to  him 
that  he  was  indebted  to  the  suggestions  of  the  Mares- 
cotti  for  his  visit.  He  then  set  out  for  Tuscany,  re¬ 
inforced  by  the  contingent  furnished  by  his  new  ally. 

He  was  hardly  out  of  sight  when  Bentivoglio  ordered 
all  the  gates  of  Bologna  to  be  closed,  and  directed  his 
son  Hermes  to  kill  Agamemnon  Marescotti,  the  head  of 
the  family,  with  his  own  hand,  while  he  himself  super¬ 
intended  the  slaughter  of  thirty-four  of  his  brothers, 
sons  and  daughters  and  nephews,  and  two  hundred  of 
their  kindred  and  friends.  The  bloody  work  was  done 
by  the  youth  of  the  noblest  families  of  Bologna,  whom 
Bentivoglio  compelled  to  stain  their  hands  with  murder, 
so  that  their  fear  of  reprisals  might  keep  them  faithful 
to  him. 

Caesar’s  designs  upon  Florence  were  hardly  a  mystery 
now.  In  the  month  of  January  he  sent  Regnier  della 
Lassetta  and  Pietro  di  Gamba-Corti  to  Pisa  with  some 
twelve  hundred  men,  and  as  soon  as  the  conquest  of 
Romagna  was  finished  Oliverotto  da  Fermo  was  dis¬ 
patched  to  the  same  city  with  additional  forces.  As 
we  have  just  seen  he  had  reinforced  the  army  under  his 
personal  leadership  with  a  hundred  men-at-arms  and  two 
thousand  foot,  and  he  was  joined  by  Vitellozo  Vitelli, 
lord  of  Citta  di  Castello,  and  by  the  Orsini,  who  brought 


THE  BORGIAS. 


205 


him  two  or  three  thousand  more  men ;  so  that  he  had 
under  his  command,  beside  the  troops  sent  to  Pisa  seven 
hundred  men-at-arms  and  five  thousand  foot. 

Notwithstanding  this  formidable  host  he  entered  Tus¬ 
cany,  protesting  that  his  intentions  were  entirely  peaceful, 
and  that  he  desired  nothing  more  than  to  pass  over  the 
territory  of  the  republic  on  his  way  to  Rome ;  at  the 
same  time  he  offered  to  pay  cash  for  such  supplies  as  his 
army  needed.  But  when  he  had  passed  through  the  de¬ 
files  of  the  mountains  and  reached  Barberino,  feeling 
that  Florence  was  in  his  power,  and  that  its  approaches 
could  not  be  successfully  defended  against  him,  he  put  a 
price  upon  his  friendliness,  and  began  to  talk  about  im¬ 
posing  conditions  instead  of  submitting  to  them.  His 
conditions  were  that  Pietro  dei  Medici,  the  kinsman  and 
ally  of  the  Orsini,  should  be  restored  to  his  former 
power ;  that  six  citizens,  to  be  designated  by  Vitellozo, 
should  be  put  in  his  hands,  in  order  that  the  death  of 
Paolo  Vitelli,  whom  the  Florentines  unjustly  executed, 
might  be  expiated  by  the  deaths  of  these  six  ;  that  the 
seignorial  body  should  bind  themselves  to  furnish  no 
assistance  to  the  lord  of  Piombino  whom  he  proposed  to 
dispossess  of  his  domain  without  loss  of  time  ;  and  lastly, 
that  the  republic  should  take  him  into  its  service  for 
such  pay  as  his  deserts  demanded. 

But  just  as  Csesar  reached  this  point  in  his  negotia¬ 
tions  with  Florence,  he  was  called  upon  by  Louis  XII. 
to  make  ready  to  accompany  him  with  his  army,  as  was 
agreed  between  them,  to  the  conquest  of  Naples,  which 
he  was  now  in  a  position  to  undertake.  Csesar  did  not 
dare  to  break  his  word  to  so  powerful  an  ally ;  he  sent 
word  to  him,  therefore,  that  he  was  at  his  service,  and 
as  the  Florentines  did  not  know  that  he  was  obliged 
to  leave  Tuscany,  he  induced  them  to  purchase  his 


206 


THE  BORGIAS. 


withdrawal  by  the  promise  of  a  yearly  payment  of  thirty- 
six  thousand  ducats,  in  exchange  for  which  he  agreed  to 
keep  three  hundred  men-at-arms  always  ready  to  go  to 
the  assistance  of  the  republic  at  the  first  summons,  what¬ 
ever  the  occasion. 

Hurried  as  he  was,  Csesar  hoped  to  find  time  in  pass¬ 
ing  to  make  himself  master  of  the  territory  of  Piombino, 
and  to  obtain  possession  of  its  capital  by  a  well-directed, 
vigorous  coup-de-main.  Consequently  he  marched  into 
the  dominions  of  Giacomo  IV.  of  Appiano ;  but  he 
found  that  he  had  anticipated  him  by  laying  waste  his 
own  fields,  burning  the  crops,  cutting  down  the  trees, 
tearing  up  the  vines,  and  choking  up  the  few  springs  of 
drinkable  water.  This  did  not  prevent  Csesar  from  gain¬ 
ing  possession  in  a  few  days  of  Severeto  Scarlino,  the 
island  of  Elba  and  Pianosa:  but  he  was  forced  to  a 
stand  at  the  castle,  which  offered  a  vigorous  resistance. 
At  this  time  the  French  army  was  in  full  march  toward 
Rome,  and  Caesar,  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  July,  received 
a  second  order  to  join  it ;  he  set  out  the  next  morning, 
leaving  Vitellozo  and  Baglione  to  carry  on  the  siege  in 
his  absence. 

Louis  XII.  was  advancing  upon  Naples,  not  with  the 
impulsive  recklessness  of  Charles  VII.,  but  with  the 
prudence  and  circumspection  which  were  characteristic 
of  him.  In  addition  to  his  alliance  with  Florence  and 
Rome  he  had  signed  a  secret  treaty  with  Ferdinand  the 
Catholic,  who  claimed  to  have,  through  the  family  of 
Hurazzo,  as  well-defined  a  right  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Naples,  as  Louis  had  through  the  House  of  Anjou.  By 
this  secret  treaty  the  two  kings  divided  up  their  conquest 
in  advance  ;  Louis  XII.  was  to  have  Naples  itself  with 
Laboni  and  the  Abruzzi,  and  the  title  of  King  of  Naples 
and  Jerusalem;  Ferdinand  was  to  have  Puglia  and 


THE  BORGIAS. 


207 


Calabria,  with  the  title  of  duke  of  those  provinces. 
Both  were  to  receive  the  requisite  investiture  from  the 
pope,  and  to  hold  of  him. 

This  partition  had  the  better  chance  of  being  carried 
out,  in  that  Frederic  believing  Ferdinand  still  to  be  his 
generous  and  faithful  friend,  would  surely  open  his  gates 
to  him,  and  learn  when  it  was  too  late  that  he  had  ad¬ 
mitted  his  enemies  and  masters  into  his  strong  places 
instead  of  allies.  All  this  was  not  over-loyal,  perhaps  on 
the  part  of  the  king  who  had  so  long  coveted  and  finally 
received  the  surname  of  Catholic ;  but  that  mattered 
little  to  Louis  XII.,  who  shared  the  advantages  of  the 
perfidy,  without  sharing  the  perfidy  itself. 

The  French  army,  reinforced  by  Csesar  and  his  troops, 
consisted  of  a  thousand  lances,  four  thousand  Swiss,  and 
six  thousand  Gascons  and  adventurers.  It  was  to  be 
supported  by  a  fleet  under  Philip  of  Rabenstein  con¬ 
sisting  of  sixteen  Breton  and  Provencal  war- vessels,  and 
three  Genoese  caracks,  with  sixty-five  hundred  men  all 
told. 

To  oppose  this  imposing  array,  the  King  of  Naples 
had  but  seven  hundred  men-at-arms,  six  hundred  light 
horse,  and  six  thousand  foot,  all  under  the  command  of 
the  Colonnas,  whom  he  took  into  his  service  when  the 
pope  drove  them  out  of  the  States  of  the  Church.  He 
placed  great  reliance,  however,  upon  Gonzalvo  of  Cor¬ 
dova,  who  was  to  join  him  at  Gaeta,  and  to  whom,  in 
his  confidence,  he  threw  open  the  gates  of  all  the 
fortresses  in  Calabria. 

But  Frederic’s  reliance  upon  his  faithless  ally  was  not 
of  long  duration.  On  their  arrival  at  Rome  the  French 
and  Spanish  ambassadors  exhibited  to  the  pope  the 
treaty  signed  at  Grenada,  on  November  11,  1500, 
between  Louis  XII.  and  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  and 


208 


THE  BORGIAS. 


which  had  not  before  transpired.  Alexander,  with 
keen  prevision  of  what  was  to  happen,  had  broken  all 
the  ties  which  bound  him  to  the  House  of  Aragon,  by 
the  death  of  Alphonzo.  At  the  outset,  however,  he 
made  some  objections,  until  it  was  pointed  out  to  him 
that  this  new  arrangement  had  been  made  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  affording  the  Christian  princes  greater  facil¬ 
ities  for  attacking  the  Ottoman  Empire ;  to  such  an 
argument  all  the  pope’s  scruples  were  bound  to  yield,  and 
on  June  25th  he  decided  to  convoke  a  consistory  which 
declared  Frederic  to  be  no  longer  King  of  Naples. 

Frederic  learned  at  one  and  the  same  time  of  the 
arrival  of  the  French  army  at  Rome,  the  treason  of 
Ferdinand,  and  the  sentence  of  deposition  pronounced 
by  Alexander;  he  realized,  of  course,  that  it  was  all 
over  with  him,  but  he  did  not  choose  to  let  it  be  said 
that  he  had  abandoned  his  kingdom  without  even  trying 
to  defend  it.  He  therefore  sent  Fabricio  Colonna  and 
Ranucio  de  Marciano,  his  two  new  generals,  to  delay  the 
French  before  Capua,  with  three  hundred  men-at-arms, 
a  few  light  horse  and  three  thousand  foot ;  he  himself 
occupied  Aversa  with  another  portion  of  his  army,  while 
Prosper  Colonna  with  the  remainder  was  entrusted  with 
the  defence  of  Naples,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Span¬ 
iards  from  Calabria. 

These  dispositions  were  hardly  completed  when 
D’Aubigny  crossed  the  Voltorno,  and  laid  siege  to 
Capua  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  As  soon  as  their 
tents  were  pitched  under  the  ramparts  the  French  placed 
their  batteries  in  position,  and  opened  fire,  to  the  in¬ 
tense  alarm  of  the  poor  besieged,  who  were  almost  all 
strangers  to  the  city,  having  hurried  thither  from  all 
sides  in  the  hope  of  finding  shelter  behind  its  walls. 
And  so  it  happened  that  as  soon  as  the  French  made  one 


THE  BORGIAS. 


209 


assault,  although  it  was  bravely  repulsed  by  Fabricio 
Colonna,  the  feeling  of  terror  throughout  the  city  was 
so  general,  and  so  utterly  blind,  that  every  one  wished  to 
throw  open  the  gates  at  once,  and  it  was  with  greatest 
difficulty  that  Colonna  made  the  panic-stricken  mob 
understand  that  they  ought  at  least  to  profit  by  the 
check  the  besiegers  had  met  with  to  the  extent  of  ob¬ 
taining  an  honorable  capitulation. 

Having  at  last  convinced  them  he  sent  a  flag  of  truce 
to  D’ Aubigny,  and  a  conference  was  fixed  for  the  second 
day  thereafter,  at  which  the  terms  of  surrender  should 
be  discussed. 

But  such  an  arrangement  did  not  tally  with  the  de¬ 
signs  of  Csesar  Borgia.  He  had  remained  behind  to 
confer  with  the  pope,  and  joined  the  French  army  with 
part  of  his  troops  on  the  very  day  that  the  conference 
was  agreed  upon.  A  capitulation  on  any  terms  would 
rob  him  of  part  of  the  satisfaction,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
booty,  which  he  promised  himself  in  taking  by  assault 
so  wealthy  and  populous  a  city  as  Capua.  So  he  entered 
into  negotiation  on  his  own  account  with  an  officer  in 
charge,  of  the  defences  at  one  of  the  gates,  secret,  golden 
negotiations,  which  are  always  more  quickly  made  and 
more  efficacious  than  the  other  sort.  The  result  was 
that,  while  Fabricio  Colonna  was  discussing  the  terms 
of  capitulation  with  the  French  generals  in  a  bastion  in 
the  outer  works,  they  suddenly  began  to  hear  shrieks  of 
distress : — Csesar  Borgia,  without  advising  any  one  of 
his  purpose,  had  entered  the  city,  accompanied  by  his 
faithful  army  from  Romagna,  and  was  slaughtering  the 
garrison,  who  had  relaxed  their  vigilance  because  they 
knew  that  the  capitulation  was  ready  to  be  signed.  The 
French,  seeing  that  the  city  was  half  taken,  rushed  upon 
the  gates  so  impetuously  that  the  besieged  did  not  even 


210 


THE  BORGIAS. 


try  to  defend  them,  and  forced  their  way  in  at  three 
different  points.  After  that,  there  was  no  hope  of  check¬ 
ing  the  butchery  and  pillage  that  had  already  begun : 
the  work  of  destruction  must  go  on  to  the  end.  In  vain 
did  Fabricio  Colonna,  Ranucio  di  Marciano  and  Don 
Ugo  di  Cardona  try  to  hold  their  ground  against  French 
and  Spaniards  with  a  handful  of  men  whom  they  had 
succeeded  in  getting  together.  Colonna  and  Don  Ugo 
were  taken  prisoners  by  the  French,  and  Ranucio, 
wounded  by  a  cross-bow  bolt,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Duke  of  Romagna.  Seven  thousand  of  the  inhabitants 
were  massacred  in  the  streets,  among  them  the  traitor 
who  opened  the  gate :  the  churches  were  pillaged ;  the 
convent  doors  were  forced  and  many  of  the  saintly  nuns 
threw  themselves  into  the  wells  and  into  the  river  to 
escape  the  brutal  soldiery.  Three  hundred  women  of 
the  noblest  families  fled  for  refuge  to  a  tower ;  Csesar 
burst  open  the  doors,  selected  forty  of  the  fairest  for 
himself,  and  turned  over  the  rest  to  his  army. 

The  pillage  lasted  three  days.  Capua  fallen,  Frederic 
saw  that  it  was  useless  for  him  to  attempt  to  make  any 
further  defence.  He  shut  himself  up  in  Castel-Nuovo, 
and  gave  Gaeta  and  Naples  permission  to  treat  with  the 
conqueror.  Gaeta  saved  itself  from  pillage  by  the  pay¬ 
ment  of  sixty  thousand  ducats,  and  Naples  by  the  sur¬ 
render  of  the  castle  which  was  put  into  D’Aubigny’s 
hands  by  Frederic  himself,  on  condition  that  he  should 
be  permitted  to  take  his  money,  jewels  and  household 
goods  to  the  island  of  Ischia,  and  remain  there  with  his 
family  unmolested  for  six  months.  The  conditions  w’ere 
faithfully  adhered  to  on  both  sides ;  D’Aubigny  entered 
Naples,  and  Frederic  withdrew  to  Ischia. 

Thus  fell  for  the  last  time,  and  “  great  was  the  fall 
thereof,”  this  branch  of  the  House  of  Aragon  which 


THE  BORGIAS. 


211 


had  reigned  in  Naples  for  sixty-five  years.  Frederic, 
its  head,  asked  and  obtained  a  safe-conduct  to  France, 
where  Louis  XII.  bestowed  upon  him  the  Duchy  of 
Anjou  and  a  pension  of  thirty  thousand  ducats  on  con¬ 
dition  that  he  should  not  leave  the  kingdom,  and  he  died 
there  on  September  9,  1504.  His  eldest  son,  Don  Fer¬ 
dinand,  Duke  of  Calabria,  made  his  way  into  Spain, 
where  he  was  allowed  to  marry  twice,  but  in  each  case  a 
woman  who  was  known  beforehand  to  be  barren.  He 
died  in  1550. 

Alphonzo,  the  second  son,  who  went  into  France  with 
his  father,  died  by  poison,  so  it  was  said,  at  Grenoble  at 
the  age  of  twenty -two:  Caesar,  the  third  son,  died  at 
Ferrara  before  he  completed  his  eighteenth  year. 

Charlotte,  Frederic’s  daughter,  married  in  France, 
Nicolas  Comte  de  Laval,  Governor  and  Admiral  of 
Bretagne ;  one  daughter  was  born  of  this  marriage, 
Anne  de  Laval,  who  married  Francis  de  la  Tremouille, 
and  it  was  through  her  that  the  family  of  La  Tremouille 
acquired  the  rights  which  it  afterwards  enforced  to  the 
Kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies. 

The  surrender  of  Naples  restored  Caesar’s  freedom  of 
action ;  he  left  the  French  army  with  renewed  assur¬ 
ances  from  its  leader  of  the  friendship  of  the  King  of 
France,  and  returned  to  the  siege  of  Piombino  which  he 
had  been  forced  to  abandon.  In  the  meantime  Pope 
Alexander  was  paying  a  visit  to  his  son’s  conquests,  and 
making  the  tour  of  Romagna  accompanied  by  Lucrezia, 
who  was  at  last  consoled  for  her  husband’s  death,  and 
had  never  been  so  high  in  favor  with  his  Holiness :  on 
their  return  to  Rome  she  occupied  an  apartment  in  her 
father’s  suite. 

There  resulted  from  this  recrudescence  of  pontifical 
affection  two  bulls,  erecting  the  towns  of  Nepi  and 


212 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Sermonetta  into  Duchies.  One  of  them  was  given  to 
Giovanni  Borgia,  one  of  the  pope’s  children  by  some 
other  mistress  than  Yanozza  or  Guilia  Farnese,  and  the 
other  to  Don  Rodrigo,  of  Aragon,  son  of  Lucrezia  and 
Alphonzo.  The  Colonna  estates  went  with  the  titles  by 
way  of  appanage. 

But  Alexander  was  dreaming  of  a  new  means  of  add¬ 
ing  to  the  fortunes  of  himself  and  his  family — the  mar¬ 
riage,  namely,  of  Lucrezia  with  Don  Alphonzo,  of  Este, 
son  of  Hercules,  Duke  of  Ferrara ;  the  project  had  the 
advantage  that  it  was  looked  upon  favorably  by  Louis 
XII. 

His  Holiness  seemed  to  have  struck  a  vein  of  good 
luck,  for  he  learned  on  the  same  day  that  Piombino  had 
surrendered  to  the  Duke  of  Romagna,  and  that  Duke 
Hercules  had  given  his  word  to  the  King  of  France. 

Both  pieces  of  news  gave  the  greatest  satisfaction  to 
Alexander,  but  in  point  of  real  importance  there  was  no 
comparison  between  them.  The  news  that  Madame 
Lucrezia  was  to  wed  the  heir-presumptive  to  the  Duchy 
of  Ferrara  was  received  by  him  with  a  frantic  joy  which 
smacked  a  little  of  the  parvenu.  The  Duke  of  Romagna 
was  requested  to  return  to  Rome  to  share  in  the  family 
rejoicings,  and  on  the  day  when  public  announcement 
of  the  betrothal  was  made  the  governor  of  the  Castle  of 
San  Angelo  was  ordered  to  fire  a  gun  every  fifteen  min¬ 
utes  from  noon  to  midnight.  At  two  o’clock,  Lucrezia, 
in  the  appropriate  garb  of  a  fiance,  accompanied  by 
her  brothers,  the  Duke  of  Romagna  and  the  Prince  of 
Squillace,  left  the  Vatican,  attended  by  all  the  nobility 
of  Rome,  and  went  to  the  Church  of  the  Madonna  del 
Popolo,  where  the  Duke  of  Gandia,  and  Cardinal  Gio¬ 
vanni  Borgia  were  buried,  to  return  thanks  for  the  latest 
dispensation  of  Providence  in  favor  of  their  family.  In 


THE  BORGIAS. 


213 


the  evening,  with  the  same  escort  made  even  more  brill¬ 
iant  by  the  glare  of  torches,  and  the  gorgeous  illumina¬ 
tions,  she  made  the  circuit  of  the  city  amid  cries  of : 
“  Long  live  Pope  Alexander !  Long  live  the  Duchess  of 
Ferrara !  ”  uttered  by  heralds  arrayed  in  cloth  of  gold. 

On  the  following  day  the  announcement  was  made 
throughout  the  city  that  there  would  be  races  for  women 
from  the  Castle  of  San  Angelo  to  the  Square  of  St. 
Peter’s ;  that  on  one  day  there  would  be  a  bull  fight 
after  the  Spanish  fashion;  and  that  from  the  current 
month  of  October  until  the  first  day  of  Lent  masquer¬ 
ades  would  be  permitted  in  the  streets  of  Rome. 

Such  were  the  amusements  provided  for  the  outside 
public  ;  the  programme  of  the  entertainments  enjoyed  by 
those  within  the  Vatican  was  not  given  to  the  public. 
If  we  may  believe  Burchard,  who  was  an  eye-witness, 
the  following  is  a  sample  of  their  character. 

“On  the  last  Sunday  in  October  fifty  courtesans 
supped  in  the  apartments  of  the  Due  de  Valenti nois  at 
the  papal  palace,  and  after  supper  danced  with  the 
squires  and  servants,  at  first  with  their  clothes  on,  and 
later  without  them.  After  a  while  the  table  was  removed, 
a  number  of  candlesticks  were  symmetrically  arranged 
on  the  floor,  and  quantities  of  chestnuts  thrown  among 
them,  which  these  fifty  women  picked  up  with  their 
teeth,  walking  about  on  all  fours  among  the  lighted  can¬ 
dles.  The  pope,  the  Due  de  Valentinois  and  his  sister 
Lucrezia  looked  on  at  this  spectacle  from  a  gallery,  and 
warmly  applauded  the  most  skillful  and  most  active 
among  them,  who  received  as  prizes,  embroidered  gar¬ 
ters,  velvet  boots  and  caps  made  of  cloth  of  gold  and 
lace.  Then  they  passed  to  amusements  of  a  different 
sort,  and - 

We  humbly  ask  pardon  of  our  readers,  especially 


214 


THE  BORGIAS. 


those  of  the  gentler  sex ;  but  although  we  succeeded  in 
finding  words  to  describe  the  first  part  of  the  spectacle, 
we  have  sought  in  vain  for  any  that  we  could  venture  to 
commit  to  paper  in  describing  the  second  part ;  we  will 
say  simply  this — that,  there  were  prizes  for  obscenity 
and  beastliness  as  well  as  for  dexterity. 

A  few  days  after  this  extraordinary  performance, 
which  recalls  so  vividly  the  day  of  Tiberius,  Nero  and 
Heliogabalus,  Lucrezia,  attired  in  a  gown  of  gold  bro¬ 
cade,  the  train  of  which  was  borne  by  young  women 
dressed  in  white  and  crowned  with  roses,  came  forth 
from  her  own  palace,  attended  by  the  most  aristocratic 
cavaliers,  and  the  loveliest  women  in  Rome,  and  walked 
to  the  Vatican  to  the  music  of  trumpets  and  clarions, 
through  streets  which  were  spread  with  carpet  in  her 
honor.  The  pope  was  awaiting  her  in  the  Pauline  hall 
with  the  Duke  of  Romagna,  Don  Ferdinand,  acting  as 
proxy  for  Duke  Alphonzo  of  Este,  and  the  Cardinal  of 
Este,  his  cousin. 

The  pope  took  his  seat  at  one  side  of  the  table  while 
the  envoys  from  Ferrara  remained  standing  on  the  other 
side.  Madame  Lucrezia  walked  towards  them  and  Don 
Ferdinand  placed  the  wedding  ring  on  her  finger.  When 
this  was  done  the  Cardinal  of  Este  drew  near  and  pre¬ 
sented  the  bride  with  four  superb  rings,  made  of  different 
jjrecious  stones  in  beautiful  settings ;  then  they  placed  a 
richly  inlaid  ivory  casket  upon  the  table,  and  the  cardi¬ 
nal  took  from  it  a  quantity  of  jewels,  chains  and  neck¬ 
laces,  pearls  and  diamonds,  the  workmanship  being  no 
less  beautiful  than  the  materials,  and  begged  Lucrezia 
to  accept  them  as  a  makeshift,  until  her  husband  should 
in  person  offer  her  some  which  would  be  more  worthy  of 
her. 

Lucrezia  accepted  the  gifts  with  every  indication  of 


THE  BORGIAS. 


215 


unstinted  delight;  then  she  withdrew,  leaning  on  the 
pope’s  arm,  to  an  adjoining  room ;  she  was  followed  by 
the  female  portion  of  her  suite,  and  Caesar  was  left  to  do 
"  the  honors  of  the  Vatican  to  the  men.  In  the  evening 
the  guests  met  again,  and  while  a  magnificent  display  of 
fireworks  was  taking  place  on  the  Square  of  St.  Paul’s, 
they  danced  half  the  night  through. 

When  the  ceremony  of  the  betrothal  was  at  an  end, 
the  pope  and  the  Duke  of  Romagna  busied  themselves 
with  preparations  for  the  bride’s  departure.  The  pope 
desired  that  the  journey  should  be  performed  with  the 
utmost  pomp  and  magnificence,  and  to  that  end  added  to 
his  daughter’s  retinue,  consisting  of  her  two  brothers-in- 
law,  and  the  gentlemen  who  had  come  to  Rome  with 
them,  the  whole  Roman  Senate,  and  those  of  the  great 
nobles  whose  wealth  enabled  them  to  make  the  most 
gorgeous  display  in  the  matter  of  clothing  and  livery. 
Among  this  brilliant  train  were  Oliviero  and  Ramiro 
Mattei,  sons  of  Pietro  Mattei,  Chancellor  of  the  city, 
and  a  daughter  of  the  pope  by  some  obscure  mistress. 
His  Holiness  also  appointed  in  consistory  Francesco 
Borgia,  Cardinal  of  Cosenza,  legate  a  latere ,  to  escort  his 
daughter  to  the  frontier  of  the  States  of  the  Church. 

The  Duke  of  Romagna,  to  do  his  part  toward  attain¬ 
ing  the  desired  result,  sent  messengers  to  all  the  cities  of 
Romagna  to  give  orders  that  Lucrezia  should  be  received 
in  each  one  of  them  as  if  she  were  its  sovereign  mistress ; 
and  preparations  on  a  grand  scale  were  at  once  inaugu¬ 
rated.  But  the  messengers  reported  that  they  were  much 
afraid  there  might  be  some  murmuring  at  Cesena,  where, 
as  the  reader  will  remember,  Caesar  had  left  Ramiro 
d’Orco  as  governor,  with  full  powers  to  put  down  symp¬ 
toms  of  insubordination.  Ramiro  d’Orco  did  his  work 
so  thoroughly  that  there  was  nothing  more  to  be  feared 


216 


THE  BORGIAS. 


in  the  way  of  an  uprising,  for  a  sixth  of  the  inhabitants 
perished  on  the  scaffold.  But  the  natural  result  of  such 
a  state  of  things  was  that  the  city  could  hardly  be  ex¬ 
pected  to  indulge  in  such  fervid  expressions  of  delight 
as  were  looked  for  from  Immola,  Faenza  and  Pesaro. 

The  Duke  of  Romagna  extricated  himself  from  this 
dilemma  with  the  promptness  and  certainty  which  were 
characteristic  of  him.  One  morning  the  people  of  Cese- 
na,  when  they  woke  from  their  slumbers,  found  a  scaffold 
erected  on  the  public  square,  and  on  the  scaffold  was  a 
man’s  body  cut  in  four  pieces,  and  surmounted  by  the 
head  stuck  on  the  end  of  a  pike. 

The  man  was  Ramiro  d’Orco. 

No  one  ever  knew  by  what  hands  the  scaffold  was 
erected,  nor  by  whom  the  terrible  deed  was  done.  The 
Republic  of  Florence  interrogated  Machiavelli,  its  am¬ 
bassador  at  Cesena,  as  to  his  opinion  of  the  affair  and 
received  the  following  reply : 

“  Magnificent  Signori : 

“  I  can  tell  you  nothing  concerning  the  execution  of 
Ramiro  d’Orco,  save  this — that  Caesar  Borgia  is  the  most 
accomplished  of  all  princes  in  the  matter  of  making  and 
unmaking  men  according  to  their  deserts. 

“  Nicolo  Machiavelli.” 

Caesar  made  no  mistake  as  to  the  probable  effect  of 
this  step  ;  the  Duchess  of  Ferrara’s  reception  in  all  the 
cities  which  lay  in  her  route  left  nothing  to  be  desired  ; 
especially  was  this  true  of  the  city  of  Cesena. 

While  Lucrezia  was  on  her  way  to  Ferrara  to  join  her 
fourth  husband,  Alexander  and  the  Duke  of  Romagna 
determined  to  make  a  tour  through  their  latest  conquest, 
the  Duchy  of  Piombino.  The  ostensible  purpose  of 


THE  BORGIAS. 


217 


their  journey  was  that  Caesar’s  new  subjects  might  take 
an  oath  of  allegiance  to  him,  but  their  real  object  was 
to  establish  an  arsenal  in  Appiano’s  capital,  within  reach 
of  Tuscany,  the  conquest  of  which  had  never  been 
seriously  abandoned  by  the  pope  or  his  son. 

They  set  sail  from  the  port  of  Corneto  on  a  fleet  of 
six  galleys,  accompanied  by  a  great  number  of  cardinals 
and  prelates,  and  arrived  the  same  evening  at  Piombino. 
The  papal  court  remained  there  some  days,  partly  to 
give  time  for  the  duke  to  be  acknowledged  as  their  lord 
by  the  people,  and  partly  to  take  part  in  certain  ecclesi¬ 
astical  functions,  of  which  the  principal  one  was  a  solemn 
service  of  state  on  the  third  Sunday  in  Lent,  at  which 
the  Cardinal  of  Cosenza  said  mass,  in  presence  of  the 
pope  and  all  the  cardinals. 

These  solemn  functions  were  succeeded  by  the  ac¬ 
customed  forms  of  dissipation  ;  the  pope  sent  for  the 
loveliest  damsels  in  the  city,  and  ordered  them  to  perform 
their  national  dances  before  him. 

The  dances  were  followed  by  banquets  of  unheard  of 
splendor,  where  the  pope  made  no  scruple  about  eating 
flesh  in  everybody’s  sight,  although  it  was  the  Lenten 
season.  The  whole  performance,  however,  had  no  other 
purpose  than  to  put  a  quantity  of  money  in  circulation, 
and  insure  the  popularity  of  Caesar  Borgia,  while  heaping 
dust  upon  the  memory  of  poor  Appiano. 

From  Piombino  the  pope  and  his  son  went  to  the 
island  of  Elba,  where  they  remained  only  long  enough 
to  visit  the  old  fortifications  and  give  orders  for  new  to 
be  built. 

At  last  the  illustrious  voyagers  took  ship  to  return  to 
Rome ;  but  they  were  barely  at  sea  when  the  weather 
took  an  unfavorable  turn,  and  as  the  pope  would  not 
consent  to  return  to  Porto-Ferrajo,  they  remained  five 


218 


THE  BORGIAS. 


days  upon  the  galleys,  although  they  were  provisioned 
for  but  two.  During  the  last  three  days  the  pope  had 
nothing  to  eat  but  a  few  fried  fish  which  were  caught  with 
much  difficulty  on  account  of  the  heavy  weather.  At 
last  they  came  in  sight  of  Corneto,  and  there  the  Duke 
of  Romagna  who  was  not  on  board  the  pope’s  galley, 
seeing  that  he  could  not  hope  to  make  the  land  in  his 
own,  took  a  small  boat,  and  was  rowed  ashore.  The 
pope  was  fain  to  keep  on  toward  Pontercole,  which  place 
he  reached  at  last  after  being  exposed  to  the  full  fury  of 
a  storm  of  such  violence  that  all  his  shipmates  were  on 
the  verge  of  despair,  either  from  sea-sickness  or  fear  of 
death.  The  pope  alone  did  not  lose  his  self-possession 
for  a  single  instant,  or  exhibit  one  symptom  of  alarm ; 
throughout  the  storm  he  remained  on  deck,  sitting  in  his 
arm-chair,  calling  upon  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  making 
the  sign  of  the  cross. 

At  last  his  galley  entered  the  harbor  of  Pontercole ; 
there  he  went  ashore,  and  having  sent  to  Corneto  for 
horses,  joined  his  son  who  was  awaiting  him  there. 
They  then  returned  to  Rome  by  easy  stages  through 
Civita-Vecchia  and  Palo,  and  reached  the  Eternal  City 
after  an  absence  of  a  month. 

Cardinal  d’Albret  arrived  at  about  the  same  time 
in  quest  of  his  baretta ;  he  was  accompanied  by  the  two 
infants  of  Navarre,  who  were  received  not  only  with  the 
honors  suited  to  their  rank,  but  as  brothers-in-law,  to 
whom  Caesar  was  intensely  anxious  to  show  how  highly 
he  valued  their  alliance. 

The  turn  had  now  come  for  Caesar  to  resume  his  career 
of  conquest.  On  the  first  of  May  of  the  previous  year 
the  pope  had  pronounced,  in  consistory,  sentence  of 
deposition  against  Giulio-Cesare  di  Yarano,  whereby, 
as  a  penalty  for  the  murder  of  his  brother  Rudolph, 


THE  BORGIAS. 


219 


and  for  affording  shelter  to  the  pope’s  enemies  he  was 
dispossessed  of  his  fief  of  Camerino,  which  reverted  to 
the  apostolic  chamber.  Caesar  now  set  out  from  Rome 
to  put  the  sentence  in  execution.  When  he  reached  the 
frontiers  of  Perouse,  which  belonged  to  his  lieutenant 
Giovanni-Paolo  Baglione,  he  sent  Olivetto  da  Fermo  and 
Gravina  Orsino  to  lay  waste  the  March  of  Camerino, 
and  at  the  same  time  called  upon  Guido  d’Ubaldo  of 
Montefeltro,  Duke  of  Urbino,  to  loan  him  troops  and 
artillery  to  assist  in  the  undertaking.  The  unfortunate 
Duke  of  Urbino,  being  on  the  best  of  terms  with  the 
pope,  and  having  no  reason  to  distrust  Caesar,  did  not 
dare  to  refuse.  But  on  the  very  same  day  that  his  troops 
marched  to  Camerino,  Caesar’s  troops  marched  into  the 
Duchy  of  Urbino,  and  took  possession  of  Cagli,  one  of 
the  four  cities  comprised  therein.  The  duke  realized 
what  fate  awaited  him  if  he  should  attempt  to  resist,  and 
made  his  escape  in  the  garb  of  a  peasant ;  and  within  a 
week  Caesar  was  master  of  the  entire  duchy  except  the 
fortresses  of  Maiolo  and  San-Leo. 

He  then  turned  his  attention  once  more  to  Camerino, 
which  was  still  holding  out,  the  garrison  and  people 
taking  heart  from  the  presence  of  Giulio-Cesare  di 
Yarano,  and  his  two  sons,  Venantio  and  Annibalis  the 
eldest  son,  Giovanni-Maria,  was  at  Venice  on  a  mission 
for  his  father. 

Caesar’s  appearance  led  to  negotiations  between  be¬ 
siegers  and  besieged.  Terms  of  capitulation  were  ar¬ 
ranged,  whereby  Yarano  agreed  to  surrender  the  city  on 
condition  that  he  and  his  sons  were  allowed  to  take  their 
departure  without  molestation,  and  carry  their  household 
goods,  treasure  and  servants  with  them.  This  arrange¬ 
ment  by  no  means  accorded  with  Caesar’s  views  ;  and  so 
he  took  advantage  of  the  relaxation  of  vigilance  on  the 


220 


THE  BORGIAS. 


part  of  the  garrison,  which  was  a  natural  result  of  the 
capitulation,  and  surprised  the  city  during  the  night  pre¬ 
ceding  the  day  on  which  it  was  to  be  surrendered.  He 
seized  the  persons  of  Yarano  and  his  two  sons,  who 
were  strangled  soon  after,  the  father  at  Pergola  and  the 
sons  at  Pesaro,  by  Don  Michele  Correglia.  Although  the 
former  bravo  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  captain,  he  occa¬ 
sionally  resumed  the  practice  of  his  early  profession. 

Meanwhile  Vitellozo  Vitelli,  who  had  assumed  the 
title  of  General  of  the  Church,  and  had  eight  hundred 
men-at-arms  and  three  thousand  foot  under  his  orders, 
was  following  out  the  scheme  of  invasion  embraced  in 
Caesar’ s  secret  and  verbal  instructions  to  him,  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  which  was  to  surround  Florence  with  a  network 
of  steel  and  put  her  in  a  position  from  which  she  would 
some  day  find  it  impossible  to  extricate  herself.  A 
worthy  pupil  of  his  master,  under  whose  tuition  he  had 
learned  to  use  the  cunning  of  the  fox  or  the  strength  of 
the  lion  as  occasion  required,  he  had  opened  negotiations 
with  certain  young  noblemen  of  Arezzo  looking  to  the 
surrender  of  that  town  to  him.  The  conspiracy  was 
discovered  by  Giulielmo  dei  Pazzi,  commissioner  of  the 
Florentine  Republic,  who  caused  two  of  the  conspirators 
to  be  arrested.  But  the  others,  who  were  much  more 
numerous  than  he  supposed,  at  once  scattered  through 
the  city,  calling  the  people  to  arms,  and  the  whole 
republican  faction,  who  thought  they  could  see  in  any 
sort  of  an  overturn,  a  hope  of  shaking  off  the  yoke  of 
Florence,  joined  them,  freed  the  two  prisoners,  and 
seized  the  person  of  Giulielmo.  They  then  proclaimed 
the  re-establishment  of  the  old  constitution,  and  besieged 
the  citadel,  whither  Cosmo  dei  Pazzi,  Bishop  of  Arezzo, 
Giulielmo’s  son,  had  fled. 

Finding  that  his  stronghold  was  invested  on  every 


THE  BORGIAS.  221 

side,  he  dispatched  a  messenger  to  Florence  in  hot  haste 
for  assistance. 

Unfortunately  for  the  cardinal,  the  troops  of  Vitellozo 
Vitelli  were  nearer  to  the  besiegers  than  those  of  the 
magnificent  republic  were  to  the  besieged,  who,  witnessed 
in  dismay  the  arrival  of  the  enemy’s  whole  army,  instead 
of  reinforcements  for  themselves.  This  army  was  com¬ 
manded  by  Vitellozo,  Baglione,  and  Fabio  Orsino,  with 
whom  were  the  two  Medici,  who  were  always  ready  to 
run  to  any  point  where  a  league  was  being  formed  against 
Florence,  and  to  return  on  any  conditions  Borgia  might 
choose  to  exact,  to  the  city  which  had  driven  them  from 
its  gates. 

On  the  following  day  the  besiegers  were  further  re¬ 
inforced  with  men  and  money  sent  by  Pandolfo  Petrucci, 
and  on  the  eighteenth  of  June,  no  word  having  been  re¬ 
ceived  from  Florence,  the  citadel  of  Arezzo  was  obliged 
to  surrender. 

Vitellozo  left  the  town  in  the  hands  of  his  inhabitants, 
put  Fabio  Orsino  in  the  citadel  with  a  thousand  men, 
and,  taking  advantage  of  the  universal  terror  inspired 
by  the  fall  of  Urbino,  Camerino  and  Arezzo  in  such 
rapid  succession,  he  marched  upon  Monte  San-Severino, 
Castiglione-Aretino,  Cortona  and  the  other  towns  in  the 
valley  of  Chiana,  which  surrendered  one  after  another, 
almost  without  a  blow.  Thus  he  arrived  within  ten  or 
twelve  leagues  of  Florence,  and  sent  word  to  Caesar  to 
that  effect,  not  daring  to  make  any  movement  against 
the  city  itself  on  his  own  responsibility.  Caesar  deemed 
it  a  fitting  time  to  strike  the  blow  he  had  so  many  times 
postponed,  and  at  once  set  out  to  be  himself,  the  bearer 
of  his  reply  to  his  faithful  lieutenants. 

But  the  Florentines,  although  they  sent  no  reinforce¬ 
ments  to  the  relief  of  Arezzo,  made  a  request  for  some 


222 


THE  BORGIAS. 


for  themselves  from  Chaumont  d’Amboise,  Governor  of 
the  Milanais  under  Louis  XII.  They  pointed  out  to  him 
not  only  that  their  immediate  danger  was  great,  but  that 
Caesar’s  ambition  soared  so  high,  that,  after  he  had  made 
himself  master  of  the  petty  principalities,  and  then  of 
the  States  of  the  second  rank,  his  overweening  vanity 
might  lead  him  to  the  point  of  attacking  the  King  of 
France  himself.  Inasmuch  as  the  news  from  Naples 
was  far  from  reassuring,  grave  dissensions  having  arisen 
between  the  Comte  d’Armagnac  and  Gonzalvo  of  Cor¬ 
dova,  Louis  might  at  any  time  find  that  he  had  need 
of  Florence,  his  tried  and  ever  faithful  friend  ;  so  he  de¬ 
termined  to  arrest  Caesar’s  progress.  He  dispatched  im¬ 
perative  orders  to  him  not  to  go  a  step  farther,  and  put 
Captain  Imbaut  in  the  field  with  four  hundred  lances  to 
see  that  his  orders  were  obeyed. 

Caesar  received  on  the  frontiers  of  Tuscany  a  copy  of 
the  treaty  between  the  republic  and  the  King  of  France, 
whereby  the  latter  bound  himself  to  defend  his  ally 
against  attack  from  any  source.  He  also  received  Louis’ 
formal  order  to  him  to  go  no  farther,  and  learned  at  the 
same  time  that,  in  addition  to  Captain  Imbaut’s  four 
hundred  lances  which  were  on  the  way  to  Florence, 
Louis  XII.,  on  arriving  at  Asti,  at  once  hurried  Louis 
de  la  Tremouille  off  to  Parma  with  two  hundred  men-at- 
arms,  three  thousand  Swiss  and  a  considerable  train  of 
artillery.  These  two  movements  combined  seemed  to  in¬ 
dicate  an  attitude  of  hostility  to  him ;  so  he  wheeled 
about  with  his  customary  adroitness,  and  taking  advan¬ 
tage  of  the  fact  that  he  had  given  none  of  his  lieutenants 
any  other  than  verbal  orders,  wrote  Vitellozo  a  crushing 
letter,  in  which  he  reproached  him  bitterly  for  compro¬ 
mising  him  to  serve  his  private  purposes,  and  ordered 
him  to  restore  to  the  Florentines  at  once,  the  cities  and 


THE  BOKGIAS. 


223 


fortresses  he  had  taken  from  them,  threatening,  if  he 
hesitated  an  instant  to  march  upon  him  in  person  and 
wrest  them  from  him. 

This  letter  written  and  dispatched,  Caesar  set  out  at 
once  for  Milan,  where  Louis  XII.  then  was,  carrying  to 
him,  as  proof  that  he  had  been  calumniated,  intelligence 
of  the  evacuation  of  the  conquered  cities.  He  also  had 
it  in  charge  from  the  pope  to  renew  for  eighteen  months 
the  title  of  legate  a  latere  to  the  French  court,  borne  by 
the  Cardinal  d’Amboise,  the  friend  rather  than  the  min¬ 
ister  of  Louis  XII.  Thanks  to  this  public  proof  of  his 
innocence,  and  the  secret  influence  of  Amboise,  Caesar 
soon  made  his  peace  with  the  King  of  France. 

But  this  was  not  all.  It  was  the  peculiar  characteris¬ 
tic  of  Caesar’s  genius  that  he  always  succeeded  in  emerg¬ 
ing  greater  than  ever  by  virtue  of  some  new  combination 
from  every  catastrophe  that  threatened  to  overwhelm 
him ;  and  so  he  at  once  calculated  the  advantage  he 
might  reap  from  the  alleged  disobedience  of  his  lieuten¬ 
ants.  More  than  once  before  this  he  had  been  somewhat 
disturbed  by  the  growth  of  their  power,  and  had  cast  a 
covetous  eye  upon  the  cities  belonging  to  them,  and  he 
thought  perhaps  the  hour  had  now  come  to  wipe  them 
off  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  seek,  in  the  invasion  of 
their  dominions,  some  recompense  for  this  Florence  which 
continually  eluded  him  just  as  he  felt  sure  that  he  had 
her  in  his  clutches. 

Doubtless  it  was  an  annoying  thing  for  him  to  see 
these  cities  and  strong  places  flying  other  banners  than 
his  own  in  the  midst  of  that  lovely  Romagna  which  he 
proposed  making  into  a  kingdom  for  himself.  Vitellozo 
was  the  proprietor  of  Citta  di  Castello,  Bentivoglio  of 
Bologna,  Giovanni-Paolo  Baglioni  of  Perouse ;  Oliver- 
otto  had  recently  seized  Fermo,  and  Pandolfo  Petrucci 


224 


THE  BORGIAS. 


was  lord  of  Sienna.  It  was  high  time  that  all  these 
should  come  under  his  undisputed  sway :  his  lieuten¬ 
ants,  like  Alexander’s,  were  becoming  too  powerful, 
and  he  must  needs  inherit  betimes  from  them  to  make 
sure  that  they  did  not  inherit  from  him.  He  obtained 
three  hundred  lances  from  Louis  XII.  to  be  used  against 
them. 

Yitellozo  Vitelli  understood  from  the  mere  perusal  of 
Caesar’s  letter  that  in  intention  at  least  he  was  already 
sacrificed  to  his  fear  of  the  King  of  France.  But  he 
was  not  a  man  to  be  victimized  so  for  a  mere  error  of 
judgment,  he  was  a  veritable  Romagnese  buffalo,  one  of 
those  who  stands  his  ground  with  lowered  horns  against 
the  sacrificial  knife  ;  and  then,  too,  the  fate  of  the 
Yarani  and  Manfredi  was  fresh  in  his  mind,  and,  death 
for  death,  he  much  preferred  to  die  with  arms  in  his  hand. 

He  assembled  at  Maggione  those  whose  lives  and 
dominions  were  threatened  by  this  latest  sudden  change 
in  Caesar’s  policy.  There  were  Paolo  Orsino,  Giovanni- 
Paolo  Baglioni,  Hermes  Bentivoglio,  representing  his 
father  Giovanni,  Antonio  Venafro,  envoy  of  Pandolfo 
Petrucci,  Olivoretto  daFermo,  and  the  Duke  of  Urbino. 
The  first  five  had  everything  to  lose,  and  the  last  had 
already  lost  everything. 

A  league  was  formed,  whereby  they  all  bound  them¬ 
selves  to  resist  Caesar,  whether  he  tried  to  overthrow 
them  one  by  one,  or  attacked  them  all  together. 

The  Duke  of  Romagna  learned  of  this  league  by  its 
first  result.  The  Duke  of  Urbino  who  was  adored  by 
his  subjects,  made  his  appearance  with  a  handful  of 
soldiers  before  the  fortress  of  San-Leo,  which  at  once 
surrendered  to  him,  and  in  less  than  a  week,  other  cities 
and  fortresses  having  followed  its  example,  the  whole 
duchy  was  once  more  in  the  power  of  the  duke. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


225 


At  the  same  time  each  of  the  confederates  openly 
proclaimed  himself  in  revolt  against  the  common  enemy, 
and  assumed  an  attitude  of  hostility. 

The  duke  was  at  Immola  almost  without  soldiers, 
waiting  for  those  to  be  sent  him  from  the  French  army. 
If  Bentivoglio,  who  was  in  possession  of  one  part  of 
that  region,  and  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  who  had  just  re¬ 
conquered  another  part,  had  marched  against  him,  it  is 
probable  that  they  would  either  have  taken  him,  or 
would  have  forced  him  to  fly,  and  leave  Romagna ;  espe¬ 
cially  as  the  two  men  upon  whom  he  relied,  Don  IJgo  di 
Cardona,  who  entered  his  service  after  the  fall  of  Capua, 
and  Michelotto  were  for  the  moment  separated  from  him, 
through  a  misunderstanding  of  his  orders.  He  ordered 
them  to  fall  back  upon  Rimini,  and  to  bring  him  the  two 
hundred  light  horse  and  five  hundred  foot  whom  they 
commanded :  but  they  failed  to  realize  the  urgency  of 
the  situation,  and  just  as  they  were  making  an  attempt 
to  carry  Pergola  and  Fossombrune  by  surprise,  they 
were  surrounded  by  Orsino,  Gravina  and  Vitellozo. 

Ugo  'di  Cardona  and  Michelotto  defended  themselves 
like  lions,  but  despite  their  heroic  efforts  their  little  band 
was  cut  in  pieces.  Ugo  di  Cardona  was  made  prisoner 
and  Michelotto  escaped  a  similar  fate  only  by  lying 
among  the  dead :  after  nightfall,  he  made  his  escape  to 
Fano. 

Notwithstanding  this  success,  and  although  he  was 
almost  defenceless  at  Immola,  the  confederates  dared  not 
attack  Caesar,  whether  because  of  the  fear  inspired  by 
his  personality,  or  because  they  respected  in  him  the 
friend  of  the  King  of  France.  They  contented  them¬ 
selves  therefore  with  seizing  the  towns  and  fortresses  in 
the  neighborhood.  Vitellozo  took  the  fortresses  of  Fos¬ 
sombrune,  Urbino,  Cagli  and  Aggobbio ;  Orsino  and 

Vol.  II.— 15. 


226 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Gravina  recaptured  Fano,  and  the  whole  of  that  prov¬ 
ince  ;  and  Giovanni  Maria  di  Yarano,  who  had  escaped 
the  fate  of  the  rest  of  his  family  because  he  was  absent 
at  Venice,  re-entered  Camerino,  borne  aloft  in  triumph 
by  his  people. 

All  these  threatening  conditions  did  not  destroy 
Caesar’s  confidence  in  his  own  good  fortune,  and  while 
on  the  one  hand  he  was  hurrying  on  the  coming  of  the 
French  troops,  and  mustering  into  his  service  all  the 
petty  nobles,  who  were  known  as  “  broken  lances,”  be¬ 
cause  they  roamed  about  the  country  with  only  five  or 
six  horsemen,  letting  out  the  swords  to  any  one  who  had 
need  of  them,  on  the  other  hand,  he  entered  into  negotia¬ 
tions  with  his  enemies,  feeling  sure  that  if  he  could  once 
induce  them  to  consent  to  a  conference  they  were  lost. 
It  is  the  truth  that  Caesar  had  received  from  heaven  the 
fatal  gifts  of  a  smooth  tongue  and  great  powers  of  per¬ 
suasion  ;  so  that,  however  well  aware  one  might  be  of 
his  duplicity,  it  seemed  to  be  impossible  to  resist,  not  his 
eloquence  but  the  air  of  good  natured  frankness  and 
bonhomie ,  which  he  knew  so  well  how  to  assume,  and 
which  won  the  admiration  of  Machiavelli,  who  was 
taken  in  by  it  more  than  once  himself,  although  he  was 
the  most  subtle  of  politicians. 

In  order  to  induce  Paolo  Orsino  to  meet  him  for  pur¬ 
poses  of  negotiation  at  Immola,  he  sent  Cardinal  Borgia 
to  the  confederates  as  a  hostage  :  Paolo’s  hesitation  van¬ 
ished  and  he  arrived  at  Immola  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
October,  1502. 

The  duke  welcomed  him  as  one  would  welcome  an  old 
friend,  from  whom  one  has  been  estranged  for  a  few  days 
by  some  trifling  temporary  disagreement.  He  admitted 
with  engaging  frankness  that  all  the  fault  was  undoubt¬ 
edly  on  his  side,  since  he  had  succeeded  in  alienating 


THE  BORGIAS. 


227 


the  good-will  of  men  who  were  such  loyal  gentlemen 
and  such  gallant  soldiers.  But  he  added  that,  with 
such  men  as  they  were,  a  frank  and  straightforward  ex¬ 
planation,  such  as  he  proffered,  ought  to  put  everything 
back  on  the  old  footing.  Thereupon,  to  prove  that  it 
was  not  fear,  but  his  good-will  to  them  which  led  him  to 
seek  a  reconciliation,  he  showed  Orsino  letters  from  Car¬ 
dinal  d’Amboise  announcing  the  speedy  arrival  of  the 
French  troops :  he  showed  him  those  he  had  levied  him¬ 
self,  desiring,  as  he  said,  that  they  should  be  thoroughly 
convinced  that  his  bitterest  regret  in  all  this  was  not  so 
much  his  own  loss  of  officers  of  such  merit  that  they 
were  the  soul  of  his  vast  undertaking,  as  the  idea  which 
the  world  might  conceive,  to  his  great  disadvantage,  that 
he  could  for  a  single  moment  have  underestimated  their 
worth.  He  therefore  left  it  in  the  hands  of  Paolo 
Orsino,  for  whom  he  had  always  the  greatest  affection, 
to  induce  the  confederates  to  consent  to  a  peace  which 
would  be  as  advantageous  to  all  concerned  as  the  war 
was  harmful,  to  each  and  every  one  of  them,  being  him¬ 
self  prepared  to  agree  to  any  sort  of  accommodation  not 
prejudicial  to  his  honor. 

Orsino  was  just  the  man  for  Caesar’s  purpose.  Being 
inflated  with  self-esteem  and  self-confidence,  he  was  con¬ 
vinced  of  the  truth  of  the  old  proverb  which  says : 

“  No  pope  can  reign  a  week  if  he  has  both  the  Colon- 
nas  and  Orsini  against  him.” 

He  believed,  if  not  in  Caesar’s  good  faith,  in  the  neces¬ 
sity  he  was  under  of  being  reconciled  to  them,  and  con¬ 
sequently  he  signed,  subject  to  ratification,  the  following 
convention  on  the  eighteenth  of  October,  1502.  We 
copy  it  from  Machiavelli’s  dispatch  to  the  magnificent 
republic  of  Florence. 


228 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Agreement  Between  the  Duke  of  Romagna  and 

the  Confederates. 

“  Let  all  persons  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come 
take  notice,  that  his  Excellency  the  Duke  of  Romagna 
on  the  one  part,  and  the  Orsini  and  their  allies  on  the 
other,  desiring  to  put  an  end  to  the  discord,  enmity,  mis¬ 
understanding  and  suspicion  now  existing  between  them, 
,  do  hereby  agree  to  the  following  terms : 

“There  shall  be  peace  and  alliance  between  them, 
without  reserve  and  perpetual,  with  complete  oblivion 
of  all  wrongs  and  insults  which  may  have  been  hitherto 
inflicted  on  either  side  ;  the  parties  reciprocally  agreeing 
to  harbor  no  resentment.  In  pursuance  of  the  said  al¬ 
liance,  his  Excellency  the  Duke  of  Romagna  does  take 
unto  himself  as  confederates  and  allies  forever  all  the 
aforesaid  nobles ;  and  each  of  them  binds  himself  to  de¬ 
fend  the  estates  of  all  in  general  and  of  each  in  particu¬ 
lar  against  every  power  which  may  attempt  to  molest  or 
attack  them  for  any  cause  whatever,  always  excepting 
the  Pope,  Alexander  VI.  and  his  Most  Christian  Majesty 
Louis  XII.,  King  of  France ;  and  the  aforesaid  nobles 
promise  in  the  same  terms  to  hasten  to  the  defence  of  the 
person  and  estates  of  his  Excellency,  as  well  as  those  of 
the  Most  Illustrious  Don  Guiffry  Borgia,  Prince  of  Squil- 
lace,  Don  Rodrigo  Borgia,  Duke  of  Sermonetta  and 
Biselli,  and  Don  Giovanni  Borgia,  Duke  of  Camerino 
and  Nepi,  brothers  or  nephews  all  of  his  Excellency  the 
Duke  of  Romagna. 

“  Furthermore,  as  the  uprising  and  invasion  of  the 
Duchy  of  Urbino  and  of  Camerino  have  come  to  pass 
during  the  aforesaid  misunderstanding,  all  the  aforesaid 
confederates  and  each  of  them  hereby  bind  themselves 


THE  BORGIAS. 


229 


to  march  with  all  their  available  forces  to  recover  said 
States  as  well  as  all  other  places  which  have  risen  in  re¬ 
volt  or  been  attacked. 

“  His  Excellency  the  Duke  of  Romagna  agrees  to  re¬ 
store  the  Orsini  and  Vitelli  to  their  former  rank  in  his 
military  service,  on  the  same  terms  as  before. 

“  He  agrees,  also,  to  require  but  one  of  them,  to  be  se¬ 
lected  by  themselves,  to  serve  in  person ;  any  service 
performed  by  the  others  will  be  voluntary. 

“  He  agrees  also  to  secure  the  ratification  by  the  sover¬ 
eign  pontiff  of  a  second  treaty  providing  that  the  said 
pontiff  cannot  require  Cardinal  Orsino  to  remain  in 
Rome  for  any  greater  length  of  time  than  best  suits  the 
convenience  of  that  prelate. 

“  Furthermore,  as  there  are  certain  matters  at  issue  be¬ 
tween  the  pope  and  Signor  Giovanni  Bentivoglio,  the 
aforesaid  confederates  agree  that  they  shall  be  referred 
without  right  of  appeal  to  the  arbitrament  of  Cardinal 
Orsino,  his  Excellency  the  Duke  of  Romagna,  and  Sig¬ 
nor  Pandolfo  Petrucci. 

“The  aforesaid  confederates  also  bind  themselves, 
jointly  and  severally,  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  Duke 
of  Romagna,  as  soon  as  they  shall  be  called  upon  by  him 
so  to  do,  one  of  the  legitimate  sons  of  each  of  them,  at 
such  time  and  place  as  he  shall  appoint. 

“  The  said  confederates  do  also  mutually  agree,  each 
with  all  the  others,  that  if  any  plot  against  one  of  them 
shall  come  to  his  knowledge,  he  will  warn  him  of  it  as 
well  as  all  the  others. 

“  It  is  furthermore  agreed  by  the  Duke  of  Romagna 
and  the  aforesaid  confederates  to  regard  as  a  common 
enemy  any  one  who  shall  fail  to  observe  all  or  any  of 
the  stipulations  contained  herein,  and  to  join  hands  to 


230 


THE  BORGIAS. 


destroy  any  powers  which  do  not  act  in  conformity 
hereto. 

“  Signed : 

“  CAESAR, 

“  Paolo  Orsino, 

“  Agapit,  Secretary  ” 

r 

While  Orsino  was  reporting  to  the  confederates  the 
result  of  his  negotiations  with  Csesar,  Bentivoglio,  being 
unwilling  to  accede  to  the  proposed  arbitration,  sug¬ 
gested  to  Csesar  that  they  should  settle  the  points  at 
issue  between  them  by  a  separate  treaty,  and  sent  his 
son  to  him  to  formulate  the  conditions ;  after  some  dis¬ 
cussion  they  were  finally  agreed  upon  as  follows  : 

Bentivoglio  agreed  to  cut  adrift  from  the  Vitelli  and 
Orsini ;  he  was  to  furnish  Csesar  with  a  hundred  men-at- 
arms  and  a  hundred  mounted  cross-bow  men  for  eight 
years,  and  pay  him  twelve  thousand  ducats  a  year  for 
the  support  of  a  hundred  lances. 

In  return  therefor  his  son  Annibal  was  to  marry  the 
sister  of  the  Bishop  of  Enna,  Csesar’s  niece,  and  the 
pope  agreed  to  recognize  his  sovereignty  in  Bologna. 

The  King  of  France,  the  Duke  of  Ferrara,  and  the  Re¬ 
public  of  Florence  were  to  be  the  guarantors  of  the  treaty. 

Meanwhile  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  reported  by 
Orsino  met  with  but  slight  favor  among  the  confederates. 
Vitellozo  Vitelli  particularly,  who  knew  Csesar  more 
thoroughly  than  any  of  the  others,  repeated  again  and 
again  that  the  terms  were  too  liberal  and  were  accorded 
too  promptly  not  to  hide  some  trap.  But  in  the  mean¬ 
time  Csesar  had  collected  a  considerable  force  at  Immola, 
and  the  four  hundred  lances  loaned  by  Louis  XII.  had 
at  last  joined  him,  so  that  Vitellozo  and  Oliverotto  con¬ 
cluded  to  sign  the  Orsino  treaty,  and  so  notified  the 


THE  BORGIAS. 


231 


Duke  of  Urbino  and  the  lord  of  Camerino,  who  saw 
that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  defend  themselves 
alone,  and  so  withdrew,  one  to  Citta  di  Castello,  and  the 
other  to  the  Kingdom  of  Naples. 

On  the  tenth  of  December,  without  divulging  his 
plans  to  any  one,  Caesar  marched  toward  Cesena  with  the 
powerful  force  he  had  been  collecting.  Immediately  a 
feeling  of  terror  spread  throughout  all  Northern  Italy. 
Florence,  although  he  was  moving  away  from  her  borders, 
feared  that  this  march  was  undertaken  for  no  other  pur¬ 
pose  than  to  cloak  his  real  intentions ;  and  Venice,  whose 
frontier  he  was  approaching,  had  sent  all  her  troops 
away  to  the  banks  of  the  Po.  Caesar  took  note  of  this 
feeling  of  alarm,  and  as  it  was  calculated  to  interfere 
with  his  plans  by  arousing  suspicion,  he  dismissed  all 
the  Frenchmen  in  his  service,  when  he  reached  Cesena, 
except  a  hundred  men-at-arms,  commanded  by  M.  de 
Candale,  his  brother-in-law.  This  left  him  with  but  two 
thousand  cavalry,  and  ten  thousand  foot. 

Several  days  were  spent  in  talk,  for  Caesar  found  in 
the  town  envoys  from  the  Vitelli  and  Orsini,  who  were 
themselves  at  the  head  of  their  army  in  the  Duchy  of 
Urbino.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  discussion  as  to 
the  course  to  be  pursued  in  continuing  their  career  of 
conquest,  there  was  so  much  difference  of  opinion  between 
the  commander-in-chief  and  these  envoys  that  they  saw 
themselves  that  it  was  impossible  to  accomplish  anything 
through  intermediaries,  and  that  a  conference  between 
Caesar  and  one  at  least  of  the  chiefs  was  urgently  necessary. 

Oliverotto  da  Fermo  therefore  took  his  life  in  his 
hand,  and  joined  the  Duke  of  Romagna,  proposing  that 
they  should  either  march  upon  Tuscany  or  seize  Sini- 
gaglia,  which  was  the  last  place  in  the  Duchy  of  Urbino 
that  had  not  fallen  again  into  Caesar’s  hands. 


232 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Caesar  replied  that  he  was  unwilling  to  carry  the  war 
into  Tuscany,  because  the  Tuscans  were  his  friends ;  but 
he  approved  the  project  of  seizing  Sinigaglia,  and  at 
once  moved  his  army  in  the  direction  of  Fano. 

Thereupon,  the  daughter  of  Frederic,  the  former 
Duke  of  Urbino,  who  held  the  town  of  Sinigaglia  (and 
who  was  called  the  “  prefectess,  ”  because  she  was  the 
wTife  of  Giovanni  della  Rovere,  appointed  prefect  of  Rome 
by  his  uncle  Sixtus  IV.),  concluded  that  it  would  be  im¬ 
possible  to  defend  the  place  against  the  force  brought  by 
the  Duke  of  Romagna ;  so  she  left  the  citadel  in  command 
of  a  captain,  whom  she  urged  to  obtain  the  best  possible 
terms  for  the  town,  and  herself  embarked  for  Venice. 

Caesar  was  advised  of  this  at  Rimini  by  a  courier  from 
Vitellozo  and  the  Orsini,  who  informed  him  that  the 
commandant  of  the  citadel  refused  to  surrender  it  to 
them,  but  was  willing  to  treat  with  him ;  and  that  they 
had  therefore  promised  that  he  would  pay  a  visit  to  the 
town  and  adjust  the  matter.  Caesar  sent  word  to  them 
in  reply  that,  in  consequence  of  the  intelligence  received 
from  them  he  should  send  part  of  his  troops  to  Cesena  and 
Immola  ;  that  they  were  of  no  use  to  him  since  he  could 
rely  upon  theirs,  who,  with  the  escort  he  proposed  to 
retain,  would  be  quite  sufficient  for  his  present  purpose, 
which  was  simply  the  complete  pacification  of  the  Duchy 
of  Urbino.  But,  he  added,  that  such  pacification  was 
impossible  so  long  as  his  former  friends  continued  to 
distrust  him  to  such  an  extent  that  they  refused  to  dis¬ 
cuss  plans  in  which  they  were  as  deeply  interested  as  he, 
except  through  the  medium  of  third  persons. 

The  courier  carried  back  this  reply  to  the  confederates, 
who,  although  they  realized  the  truth  of  his  observations, 
hesitated  nevertheless  to  do  what  he  asked.  Vitellozo 
Vitelli  in  particular  manifested  a  distrust  of  Caesar,  which 


THE  BORGIAS. 


233 


it  seemed  impossible  to  overcome.  At  last,  however,  he 
gave  way  to  the  persistent  entreaties  of  Oliverotto, 
Gravina,  and  Orsino,  and  consented  to  await  the  duke’s 
arrival ;  but  he  was  influenced  much  more  by  his  reluc¬ 
tance  to  appear  more  fearful  than  his  companions,  than 
by  any  confidence  in  Csesar’s  show  of  continuing  good¬ 
will. 

When  the  duke  reached  Fano  on  December  20, 1502, 
he  was  apprised  of  this  decision  which  he  was  so  desi¬ 
rous  of  bringing  about.  He  at  once  summoned  eight  of 
his  most  faithful  adherents,  among  whom  were  his  nephew 
Signor  d’Enna,  Michelotto,  and  Ugo  di  Cardona,  and 
ordered  them,  as  they  approached  Sinigaglia,  and  Oliv¬ 
erotto,  Gravina,  Vitellozo  and  Orsino  came  forth  to  meet 
him,  to  take  their  places  on  their  right  and  left,  two 
for  each  of  the  four,  as  if  to  do  them  honor,  and  in  such 
way  that  they  could  at  a  given  signal  either  arrest  them, 
or  stab  them.  He  then  designated  the  particular  indi¬ 
vidual  to  whom  each  of  them  should  give  his  attention, 
and  impressed  upon  them  that  they  must  not  leave  him 
until  he  had  entered  Sinigaglia  and  arrived  at  the  quarters 
prepared  for  him.  He  also  sent  orders  to  those  of  his 
soldiers  who  were  quartered  in  the  neighborhood  to  as¬ 
semble  to  the  number  of  eight  thousand  on  the  banks  of 
the  Metauro,  a  small  river  of  Umbria  which  flows  into 
the  Adriatic,  and  known  to  history  as  the  scene  of 
Hasdrubal’s  defeat. 

The  duke  reached  the  rendezvous  appointed  for  his 
army  on  the  thirty-first  of  December.  He  at  once  sent 
two  hundred  cavalry  on  before,  and  the  whole  body  of 
infantry  a  short  distance  behind  them ;  then  he  took  up 
the  line  of  march  himself,  surrounded  by  his  men-at-arms, 
and  followed  the  shore  of  the  Adriatic,  with  the  moun¬ 
tains  on  his  right  and  the  sea  on  his  left,  sometimes  so 


234 


THE  BORGIAS. 


closely  pressed  between  them  that  the  troops  could  march 
only  ten  abreast. 

After  a  march  of  four  hours  the  duke,  on  turning  an 
angle  in  the  road,  found  himself  in  sight  of  Sinigaglia, 
which  lies  about  a  mile  from  the  sea,  and  within  an  ar¬ 
row’s  flight  of  the  mountains.  Between  the  army  and 
the  town  flowed  a  little  stream  which  they  were  obliged 
to  follow  down  for  some  distance  until  at  last  they  found 
a  bridge  opposite  a  suburb  of  the  town.  At  that  point 
Caesar  drew  up  his  cavalry  in  two  lines,  one  between  the 
road  and  the  river  and  the  other  on  the  side  away  from 
the  river,  leaving  the  whole  width  of  the  road  for  the  in¬ 
fantry,  who  marched  through,  crossed  the  bridge,  entered 
the  town,  and  drew  up  in  order  of  battle  on  the  public 
square. 

Yitellozo,  Gravina,  Orsino  and  Oliverotto  had  quar¬ 
tered  their  troops  in  the  small  towns  or  villages  nearby 
in  order  to  make  room  for  the  duke’s  army.  Oliverotto, 
however,  retained  about  a  thousand  foot  and  a  hundred 
and  fifty  horse,  whose  barracks  were  in  the  suburb  by 
which  the  duke’s  troops  entered  the  town. 

Csesar  had  ridden  but  a  few  steps  toward  the  town 
when  he  spied  Yitellozo,  the  Duke  of  Gravina  and  Or¬ 
sino  waiting  at  the  gate  to  welcome  him ;  the  last  two 
were  light-hearted  and  trustful,  but  Yitellozo  was  so  sad 
and  depressed  that  one  would  have  said  he  divined  the 
fate  that  was  in  store  for  him.  Doubtless  he  had  some 
foreboding  of  it,  for  when  he  left  his  troops  to  go  to  Sini¬ 
gaglia,  he  bade  them  adieu  as  if  he  never  expected  to 
see  them  again,  commending  his  family  to  the  care  of  his 
officers,  and  kissed  his  children  with  tears  streaming 
down  his  cheeks ;  a  weakness  which  seemed  strange  on 
the  part  of  a  stern,  brave-hearted  warrior. 

The  duke  rode  up  to  them  and  held  out  his  hand  with 


THE  BORGIAS. 


235 


such  a  frank  and  amiable  expression  that  it  drove  away 
the  last  vestige  of  doubt  as  to  his  sincerity  from  the 
minds  of  Gravina  and  Orsino ;  Vitellozo  Vitelli  alone 
retained  his  air  of  melancholy  dejection. 

At  the  same  moment  the  duke’s  trusty  adherents  took 
their  places,  as  they  were  bid,  at  the  right  and  left  of 
those  whom  they  were  to  watch,  and  who  were  all  pres¬ 
ent,  save  Oliverotto.  The  duke  noticed  his  absence,  and 
looked  uneasily  about  for  him ;  but  as  they  were  passing 
through  the  suburb  he  saw  him  drilling  his  troops  upon 
the  square.  He  at  once  sent  Michelotto  and  Enna  to 
him  to  say  that  it  was  extremely  imprudent  for  him  to 
bring  his  men  out  in  that  way,  for  they  might  get  into  a 
dispute  with  the  duke’s  troops,  and  cause  an  affray ;  so 
that  it  would  be  much  better  for  him  to  send  them  back 
to  their  barracks,  and  join  his  companions.  Oliverotto, 
whose  destiny  drew  him  in  with  the  others  to  his  fate, 
made  no  objection,  but  ordered  his  troops  back  into  their 
barracks,  and  galloped  off  to  join  Caesar,  with  Enna  and 
Michelotto  on  either  side.  As  soon  as  he  spied  him  Cae¬ 
sar  called  to  him,  grasped  his  hand,  and  continued  his 
march  toward  the  palace  assigned  for  his  headquarters, 
with  his  four  victims  in  his  train. 

He  alighted  first  at  the  door,  and  with  a  sign  to  the 
leader  of  his  men-at-arms  to  await  his  orders,  passed 
into  the  building,  followed  by  Oliverotto,  Gravina,  Vitel¬ 
lozo  Vitelli  and  Orsino,  each  still  attended  by  his  two 
familiars.  But  they  had  no  sooner  mounted  the  stair¬ 
case  and  entered  the  first  room  than  the  door  was  closed 
behind  them,  and  Caesar  turned  about,  saying : 

“  The  hour  has  come !  ” 

It  was  the  appointed  signal.  Instantly  each  of  the 
confederates  was  seized  and  thrown  to  the  floor,  and 
with  a  dagger  at  his  throat  forced  to  give  up  his  weapons. 


236 


THE  BOKGIAS. 


The  next  moment,  while  they  were  being  led  off  to 
prison,  Csesar  opened  the  window,  went  out  upon  the  bal¬ 
cony  and  shouted  to  the  leader  of  his  men-at-arms : 

“  Go !  ” 

The  leader  knew  what  was  expected  of  him,  and  hur¬ 
ried  off  with  his  troop  to  the  barracks  occupied  by 
Oliverotto’s  force,  who  were  taken  by  surprise  and  made 
prisoners.  Then  the  town  was  given  over  to  pillage,  and 
the  duke  sent  for  Machiavelli. 

Csesar  and  the  Florentine  envoy  were  closeted  together 
for  some  two  hours,  and  we  will  allow  Machiavelli  to  de¬ 
scribe  the  interview  in  his  own  words. 

“  He  sent  for  me  and  with  a  most  serene  expression  di¬ 
lated  upon  the  satisfaction  he  derived  from  the  success 
of  this  enterprise  which  he  insisted  that  he  had  men¬ 
tioned  to  me  the  day  before.  I  recalled  the  fact,  although 
I  did  not  then  understand  what  he  meant.  He  explained 
very  reasonably  and  with  protestations  of  the  highest 
regard  for  our  good  city,  the  various  reasons  which  led 
him  to  desire  your  alliance,  a  desire  which  he  hoped  that 
you  would  reciprocate.  He  concluded  by  making  me 
promise  to  prefer  three  requests  to  your  lordships  in  his 
name  :  first  that  you  rejoice  with  him  because  that  has 
happened  which  wipes  out  at  a  single  blow,  the  king’s 
enemies,  yours  and  his  own,  and  destroys  the  seeds  of 
trouble  and  discord  which  were  only  too  likely  to  over¬ 
run  Italy  ;  this  service,  taken  in  conjunction  with  his 
refusal  to  join  these  same  prisoners  in  marching  against 
you  ought,  he  thinks,  to  arouse  your  sense  of  gratitude. 
Secondly,  that  you  consent  to  give  him  a  striking  proof 
of  your  friendship  by  dispatching  cavalry  to  Borgo,  and 
mustering  infantry  there,  to  be  at  hand,  in  case  of  need, 
to  march  with  him  upon  Castello  or  Perouse.  Lastly, 
and  this  is  the  third  request  he  makes  of  you,  that  you 


THE  BORGIAS. 


237 


cause  the  Duke  of  Urbino  to  be  arrested,  if  he  should 
flee  from  Castello  to  your  dominions,  upon  learning  of 
Vitellozo’s  detention.  When  I  pointed  out  to  him  that 
it  would  not  be  in  consonance  with  the  dignity  of  the 
republic  to  give  him  up,  and  that  you  would  never  con¬ 
sent  to  do  it,  he  agreed  with  me,  and  said  that  he  would 
be  content  if  you  would  detain  him  and  not  restore  him 
to  liberty  without  his  sanction.  I  promised  his  Excel¬ 
lency  to  write  all  this  to  you,  and  he  awaits  your  reply.” 

That  same  night  eight  masked  men  went  down  into 
the  dungeon  where  the  prisoners  were  confined.  They 
all  supposed  that  their  last  hour  had  struck,  but  at  the 
moment  only  Vitellozo  and  Oliverotto  were  wanted. 
When  these  two  were  informed  that  their  doom  was 
sealed  Oliverotto  bitterly  reproached  Vitellozo,  charging 
him  with  being  responsible  for  his  having  taken  up  arms 
against  the  duke.  The  only  thing  that  Vitellozo  himself 
said  was  that  he  begged  the  pope  to  give  him  plenary 
absolution  for  all  his  sins.  The  masked  men  then  led 
them  out,  leaving  Orsino  and  Gravina  to  await  their  turn. 
The  others  were  taken  to  a  lonely  spot  outside  the  fortifi¬ 
cations,  where  they  were  strangled,  and  their  bodies  at 
once  tossed  into  graves  which  had  been  dug  in  antici¬ 
pation. 

Orsino  and  Gravina  were  allowed  to  live  until  Caesar 
learned  whether  the  pope  had  secured  the  arrest  of 
Cardinal  Orsino,  Archbishop  of  Florence,  and  lord  of 
Santa-Croce.  As  soon  as  his  Holiness  sent  word  that  it 
had  been  done,  the  two  prisoners,  who  had  been  trans¬ 
ferred  to  the  castle  of  La  Pievre,  were  also  taken  out 
and  strangled. 

The  Duke  of  Romagna  left  Sinigaglia  immediately 
after  the  first  execution,  leaving  full  instructions  with 
Michelotto.  He  assured  Machiavelli  that  he  had  never 


238 


THE  BORGIAS. 


had  any  other  purpose  than  that  of  restoring  tranquillity 
in  Romagna  and  Tuscany,  and  that  he  believed  he  had 
accomplished  that  purpose  by  putting  to  death  those  who 
were  the  cause  of  all  the  troubles.  As  to  any  uprisings 
which  might  take  place  thereafter  they  would  be  nothing 
more  than  sparks  which  a  drop  of  water  would  extinguish. 

The  moment  that  the  pope  learned  that  Csesar  had  his 
enemies  in  his  power,  being  in  great  haste  to  play  the 
same  game  for  himself,  he  sent  word  to  Cardinal  Orsino, 
although  it  was  then  midnight,  that  his  son  had  gained 
possession  of  Sinigaglia,  and  urged  him  to  come  to  him 
in  the  morning  and  talk  over  the  good  news.  The 
cardinal,  enchanted  by  this  indication  of  high  favor,  was 
careful  not  to  fail  to  keep  the  appointment.  Betimes  in 
the  morning  he  mounted  his  horse  to  ride  to  the  Vatican ; 
at  the  first  street  corner  he  met  the  Governor  of  Rome 
with  a  detachment  of  cavalry,  who  expressed  his  pleasure 
at  the  happy  accident  which  led  them  both  in  the  same 
direction,  and  escorted  him  to  the  door  of  the  pope’s 
palace.  There  the  cardinal  alighted,  and  began  to  ascend 
the  steps,  but  was  not  half  way  up  before  his  mules  and 
attendants  were  seized  and  shut  up  in  the  palace  stables. 

Upon  entering  the  hall  of  the  Parrot  he  and  all  his 
suite  were  surrounded  by  armed  men,  who  led  him  to 
another  apartment,  called  the  Vicar’s  hall,  where  he 
found  the  Abb&  Alviano,  the  prothonotary  Orsino, 
Giacomo  Santa-Croce,  and  Rinaldo  Orsino,  prisoners  all 
like  himself.  At  the  same  time  the  governor  received 
orders  to  take  possession  of  the  Castle  of  Monte-Giardino, 
which  belonged  to  the  Orsini,  and  take  away  all  the 
jewels,  hangings,  furniture  and  plate  which  it  contained. 

The  governor  acquitted  himself  of  this  duty  conscien¬ 
tiously,  and  carried  to  the  Vatican  everything  that  he 
found,  even  to  the  cardinal’s  account  books.  On 


THE  BORGIAS. 


239 


consulting  these  books  the  pope  made  two  discoveries : 
one  was  that  a  sum  of  two  thousand  ducats  was  owing  to 
the  cardinal,  for  which  no  debtor’s  name  was  given  ;  and 
the  other,  that  the  cardinal  purchased,  three  months 
before,  for  fifteen  hundred  Roman  crowns,  a  magnificent 
pearl  which  was  not  among  the  property  found  in  his 
possession.  He  thereupon  gave  orders  that,  until  these 
errors  in  the  cardinal’s  accounts  were  rectified,  the  men 
who  brought  food  to  him  from  his  mother  twice  each  day, 
should  not  be  admitted  to  the  Castle  of  San  Angelo. 
The  same  day  the  cardinal’s  mother  sent  the  pope  the 
two  thousand  ducats,  and  the  next  day  his  mistress 
appeared,  dressed  in  man’s  clothes,  and  brought  the  miss¬ 
ing  pearl.  But  his  Holiness,  enraptured  by  her  beauty  in 
that  garb,  allowed  her  to  keep  it  at  the  same  price  which 
she  paid  before,  if  common  report  is  to  be  believed. 

As  to  the  cardinal,  the  pope  allowed  food  to  be 
brought  him,  as  before,  so  that  it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  he  died  by  poison  on  the  twenty-second  of  Feb¬ 
ruary,  two  days  subsequent  to  that  on  which  his  accounts 
were  adjusted. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  the  Prince  of 
Squillace  left  Rome  to  take  possession,  in  the  pope’s 
name,  of  the  estates  of  the  defunct. 

Meanwhile  the  Duke  of  Romagna  pursued  his  course 
to  Citta  di  Castello  and  Perouse,  and  gained  possession 
of  both  places  without  striking  a  blow  ;  for  the  Vitelli  fled 
from  the  first-named  and  Giovanni-Paolo  Baglione  aban¬ 
doned  the  second,  without  even  an  attempt  at  resistance. 

There  remained  Sienna,  where  Pandolfo  Petrucci  had 
shut  himself  up,  the  only  one  left  of  all  those  who 
signed  the  league  against  him.  But  Sienna  was  under 
the  protection  of  the  French  ;  furthermore  Sienna  was 
not  parcel  of  the  States  of  the  Church,  and  Caesar  had 


240 


THE  BORGIAS. 


no  shadow  of  claim  to  it.  He  contented  himself  there¬ 
fore  with  demanding  that  Pandolfo  Petrucci  should  leave 
the  city,  and  withdraw  to  Lucca,  which  he  did. 

Thereupon,  as  everything  was  tranquil  in  that  quarter, 
and  the  whole  of  Romagna  was  under  his  heel,  Caesar 
resolved  to  return  to  Rome,  to  assist  the  pope  in  getting 
rid  of  what  remained  of  the  Orsini. 

This  task  was  made  the  easier  of  accomplishment,  be¬ 
cause  Louis  XII.  having  met  with  reverses  in  the  King¬ 
dom  of  Naples,  was  thenceforth  too  deeply  engrossed  in 
his  own  affairs  to  disturb  himself  about  those  of  his 
allies.  And  so  Caesar,  dealing  with  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Eternal  City,  as  he  had  dealt  with  Romagna, 
seized  upon  Yicovaro,  Cera,  Palombera,  Lanzano  and 
Cervetti  in  rapid  succession. 

This  conquest  accomplished,  Caesar,  having  subdued 
the  papal  territories  from  the  frontiers  of  Naples  to 
those  of  Venice,  returned  to  Rome,  to  concert  with  his 
father  a  plan  for  transforming  his  duchy  into  a  kingdom. 

Caesar  arrived  in  Rome  just  in  time  to  share  with 
Alexander  in  the  succession  to  Cardinal  Giovanni 
Michele,  who  had  recently  died,  poisoned  by  a  glass  of 
wine  which  he  took  from  the  pope’s  own  hands. 

The  future  King  of  Italy  found  his  father  meditating 
an  extensive  speculation ;  he  had  resolved  to  celebrate 
St.  Peter’s  Day  by  the  creation  of  nine  cardinals. 

He  had  this  to  gain  by  this  wholesale  creation. 

In  the  first  place,  those  whom  he  promoted  would 
leave  their  present  posts  vacant ;  they  would  revert  to 
the  pope,  and  he  would  sell  them. 

Secondly,  each  of  the  new  selections  would  purchase 
his  appointment  at  a  higher  or  lower  figure  according  to 
his  means ;  the  price  would  be  left  to  the  pope’s  caprice 
and  would  vary  from  ten  to  forty  thousand  ducats. 


THE  BORG/AS 


The  accidental  poisoning  of  Alexander 
VI.  and  of  his  son  C cesar  Borgia ,  Duke  of 
Romagna. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


241 


Lastly,  when  they  became  cardinals,  the  law  took 
away  from  them  the  right  to  make  a  will,  so  that  the 
pope  had  only  to  poison  them  in  order  to  inherit  all  their 
possessions.  This  put  him  in  a  position  similar  to  that 
of  the  butcher,  who  when  he  needs  money  has  only  to 
kill  the  fattest  sheep  in  his  flock. 

The  promotions  took  place  as  planned.  The  new  car¬ 
dinals  were  Giovanni  Castellar  Valentino,  Archbishop 
of  Trani ;  Francesco  Remolino,  ambassador  of  the  King 
of  Aragon,  Francesco  Soderini,  Bishop  of  Volterra; 
Melchior  Copis,  Bishop  of  Brissina;  Nicolas  Fiesque, 
Bishop  of  Frejus;  Francesco  di  Sprate,  Bishop  of 
Leone ;  Adriano  Castellense,  clerk  of  the  chamber, 
treasurer-general,  and  secretary  of  apostolic  letters ; 
Francesco  Loris,  Bishop  of  Elva,  Patriarch  of  Constan¬ 
tinople,  and  secretary  to  the  pope ;  and  Giacomo  Casa¬ 
nova,  prothonotary,  and  private  chamberlain  to  his  Holi¬ 
ness. 

When  the  price  of  their  elevation  was  duly  paid,  and 
the  places  left  vacant  by  them  had  been  sold,  the  pope 
made  his  selection  of  those  who  were  to  be  poisoned. 
The  number  was  fixed  at  three — one  of  earlier  creation, 
Cardinal  Casanova,  and  two  of  the  new  set,  Melchior 
Copis,  and  Adriano  Castellense,  the  latter  of  whom  took 
the  name  of  Adriano  di  Corneto,  from  the  town  where 
he  was  born  ;  he  had  amassed  an  immense  fortune  in  the 
offices  of  clerk  of  the  chamber,  treasurer-general,  and 
secretary  of  apostolic  letters. 

When  this  course  of  action  was  fully  agreed  upon  by 
Caesar  and  the  pope,  they  issued  invitations  to  a  supper- 
party  to  be  given  at  a  villa  not  far  from  the  Vatican 
belonging  to  Cardinal  di  Corneto.  In  the  morning  of 
the  day  appointed  for  this  festival,  which  was  the  second 
of  August,  they  sent  their  own  servants  and  their  maitre 

Vol.  II.— 16. 


242 


THE  BORGIAS. 


d’  hotel  to  make  all  necessary  preparations,  and  Caesar 
himself  handed  to  the  pope’s  butler  two  bottles  of  wine, 
with  which  was  mixed  a  quantity  of  that  white  powder 
resembling  sugar,  the  deadly  properties  of  which  he  had 
so  often  put  to  the  test.  He  directed  him  not  to  serve  it 
until  he  should  tell  him  to  do  so,  and  then  only  to  such 
of  the  guests  as  he  should  indicate.  The  butler  there¬ 
fore  placed  it  on  a  buffet  by  itself,  and  cautioned  the 
servants  not  to  touch  it,  as  it  was  reserved  for  the  pope  * 
Toward  evening  Alexander  left  the  Vatican  on  foot, 
leaning  on  Caesar’s  arm,  and  walked  in  the  direction  of 
the  villa,  accompanied  by  Cardinal  Caraffa.  It  was  very 
hot  and  the  ascent  was  somewhat  sharp,  so  that  the  pope 
when  he  reached  the  terrace  stopped  to  take  breath. 
At  that  moment,  as  he  put  his  hand  to  his  breast,  he 
found  that  he  had  left  in  his  bedroom  a  chain  which  he 
was  accustomed  to  wear  around  his  neck,  and  to  which 
was  attached  a  gold  locket  containing  a  consecrated 
wafer.  He  had  adopted  the  habit  of  wearing  it  because 
an  astrologer  had  predicted  that,  so  long  as  he  carried  a 
consecrated  wafer  about  with  him  neither  steel  nor  poison 
could  harm  him.  He  at  once  ordered  Cardinal  Caraffa 
to  hurry  back  to  the  Vatican  to  fetch  the  talisman,  de¬ 
scribing  to  him  minutely  just  the  spot  where  he  left  it. 
As  the  walk  had  made  him  very  thirsty,  he  turned  to  a 


*  The  poison  used  by  the  Borgias,  so  say  contemporary  authors,  was  of 
two  kinds,  a  powder  and  a  liquid.  The  powder  was  a  sort  of  impalpable 
white  flour,  with  the  taste  of  sugar,  and  called  Cantarelle.  Its  composi¬ 
tion  was  not  known.  As  to  the  liquid  poison,  it  was  prepared,  according 
to  the  chroniclers,  in  such  an  extraordinary  fashion  that  we  cannot  pass 
it  over  in  silence.  We  will  simply  quote  what  we  have  read,  and  state 
nothing  upon  our  own  responsibility,  lest  science  take  us  to  task : 

“They  forced  a  boar  to  swallow  a  strong  dose  of  arsenic;  just  as  the 
poison  was  beginning  to  work  they  hung  him  up  by  his  feet ;  convulsions 
soon  ensued  and  a  poisonous  froth  flowed  freely  from  his  mouth.  It  was 
this  froth,  collected  in  a  silver  platter,  and  hermetically  sealed  in  a  flask, 
which  constituted  the  liquid  poison.” 


THE  BORGIAS. 


243 


servant  and  asked  him  for  something  to  drink  ;  and 
Caesar,  whose  thirst  was  equally  great,  ordered  him  to 
bring  two  glasses. 

By  a  strange  chance  it  happened  that  the  butler  had 
returned  to  the  Vatican  to  fetch  some  superb  fish,  which 
were  presented  to  the  pope  that  very  day,  and  which  he 
forgot  to  bring  with  him.  The  servant  therefore  applied 
to  the  under-butler,  saying  to  him  that  his  Holiness  and 
the  Duke  of  Romagna  were  very  thirsty  and  desired 
something  to  quench  their  thirst.  The  under-butler,  see¬ 
ing  two  bottles  of  wine  standing  apart,  and  remembering 
that  he  had  heard  some  one  say  that  they  were  for  the 
pope,  took  one  of  them,  and  from  it  filled  two  glasses, 
which  the  servant  carried  to  them  upon  a  salver.  They 
both  drank  without  a  suspicion  that  it  was  the  wine 
which  they  had  themselves  prepared  to  poison  their 
guests. 

Meanwhile  Cardinal  Caraffa  ran  back  to  the  Vatican, 
and  as  he  was  perfectly  familiar  with  the  palace  went  up 
to  the  pope’s  chamber  with  a  light  in  his  hand,  unaccom¬ 
panied  by  any  servant.  As  he  turned  a  corner  of  the 
corridor,  the  wind  blew  his  light  out ;  but  he  kept  on, 
thinking  that  he  had  no  need  to  see  in  order  to  find  what 
he  sought,  his  instructions  were  so  minute. 

But  when  he  opened  the  door  of  the  apartment  he  re¬ 
coiled  with  a  shriek  of  terror.  He  thought  that  he  saw 
before  his  eyes  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  between  the 
door,  and  the  chiffoniere  in  which  the  locket  was,  Alex¬ 
ander  VI.  lying  motionless  and  livid  in  a  coffin,  with 
torches  burning  at  the  four  corners — a  fearful  vision. 

The  cardinal  stood  for  a  moment  with  staring  eyes 
and  hair  on  end,  without  strength  to  go  forward  or  back ; 
but  he  finally  convinced  himself  that  it  was  either  an 
illusion  of  his  senses,  or  an  infernal  apparition,  and  made 


244 


THE  BORGIAS. 


the  sign  of  the  Cross,  invoking  God’s  holy  name.  Im¬ 
mediately  it  all  vanished,  torches,  bier,  and  corpse,  and 
the  room  became  dark  once  more. 

Thereupon  Cardinal  Caraffa  (afterwards  Pope  Paul 
IV.),  who  is  himself  the  only  authority  for  this  extraor¬ 
dinary  experience,  boldly  entered  the  room,  and  although 
the  cold  sweat  was  still  standing  on  his  forehead,  he 
went  straight  to  the  chiffonibre,  and  found  the  gold 
chain  and  locket  in  the  drawer  described  by  the  pope. 
He  took  them  and  left  the  palace  in  hot  haste  to  return 
to  the  villa.  He  found  the  guests  assembled,  the  supper 
served,  and  his  Holiness  just  about  to  take  his  place  at 
the  table.  As  soon  as  Caraffa  appeared  in  the  distance, 
the  pope,  who  was  very  pale,  started  to  walk  toward  him. 
Caraffa  quickened  his  pace,  and  handed  him  the  locket, 
but  as  he  was  putting  out  his  hand  to  take  it,  he  fell 
backward  to  the  ground  with  a  cry  of  agony,  which  was 
immediately  followed  by  violent  convulsions.  A  few 
seconds  later  Caesar  was  attacked  by  the  same  symptoms 
as  he  was  running  to  assist  his  father.  The  poison 
worked  more  swiftly  than  usual,  for  Caesar  had  put  in  a 
double  dose,  and  their  heated  state  when  they  drank  it, 
doubtless  increased  its  activity. 

The  two  sick  men  were  carried  side  by  side  to  the 
Vatican,  where  they  parted,  each  to  go  to  his  own  apart¬ 
ments  ;  from  that  moment  they  never  saw  each  other 
more. 

As  soon  as  he  was  put  to  bed,  the  pope  was  seized  with 
a  violent  fever  which  refused  to  yield,  either  to  emetics 
or  to  blood-letting,  and  it  was  deemed  best  to  administer 
the  last  sacraments  of  the  Church  almost  immediately. 
But  his  vigorous  constitution,  which  seemed  to  have  set 
the  natural  effect  of  advancing  years  at  defiance,  strug¬ 
gled  against  death  for  a  whole  week.  He  died  at  last 


THE  BORGIAS. 


245 


without  once  mentioning  the  name  of  Caesar  or  Lucrezia, 
although  they  were  the  two  centres  around  which  all  his 
affections  and  all  his  crimes  revolved.  He  was  seventy- 
two  years  old,  and  his  pontificate  had  lasted  eleven 
years. 

It  may  be  that  Caesar  drank  less  of  the  deadly  com¬ 
pound  than  his  father,  it  may  be  that  the  vigor  of  his 
youth  overpowered  the  vigor  of  the  poison,  it  may  be,  as 
some  claimed,  that,  when  he  was  taken  to  his  room  he 
swallowed  an  antidote  which  was  known  to  none  but 
himself ;  at  all  events  he  did  not  for  an  instant  lose  his 
perception  of  the  terrible  position  in  which  he  was 
placed.  He  sent  at  once  for  his  faithful  Michelotto 
with  those  of  his  men  in  whom  he  placed  the  most  confi¬ 
dence,  and  distributed  them  through  the  various  rooms 
preceding  his  own  ;  he  ordered  the  leader  not  to  leave 
the  foot  of  his  bed  for  an  instant,  and  to  sleep  upon  a 
blanket  with  his  hand  on  his  sword  hilt. 

The  treatment  employed  in  Caesar’s  case  was  the  same 
as  in  his  father’s,  emetics  and  blood-letting,  with  the  ad¬ 
dition  of  a  strange  kind  of  bath  which  he  asked  for 
himself,  having  heard  it  said  that  King  Ladislas  of 
Naples  was  once  cured  thereby  under  similar  circum¬ 
stances. 

Four  upright  posts  were  firmly  attached  to  the  floor 
of  his  room  ;  every  day  a  bull  was  brought  in  and 
thrown  over  on  his  back,  and  his  legs  made  fast  to  the 
posts.  Then  an  incision  a  foot  and  a  half  long  was 
made  in  his  belly,  through  which  the  intestines  were 
taken  out,  and  Caesar  crawled  into  the  still  living  recep¬ 
tacle,  and  bathed  himself  in  the  animal’s  blood.  When 
the  bull  was  dead  he  crawled  out  again  and  was  rolled 
in  blankets  soaked  in  boiling  water,  and  the  profuse  per¬ 
spiration  thus  induced  almost  always  relieved  him. 


246 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Every  two  hours  he  sent  to  ask  for  news  of  his  father’s 
condition  ;  the  instant  he  learned  that  he  was  dead,  al¬ 
though  he  was  still  at  the  point  of  death  himself,  he 
called  into  play  the  force  of  character  and  self-command 
which  were  a  part  of  his  nature,  ordered  Michelotto  to 
close  the  gates  of  the  Vatican  before  his  father’s  demise 
was  known  in  the  city,  and  absolutely  forbade  the  ad¬ 
mission  of  any  person  whatsoever  until  the  pope’s  papers 
and  money  had  been  removed.  Michelotto  at  once  exe¬ 
cuted  his  orders ;  he  sought  out  Cardinal  Casanova,  and 
with  his  dagger  at  his  throat  compelled  him  to  give  up 
the  keys  of  the  pope’s  apartments  and  cabinets.  Under 
his  guidance  he  carried  off  two  chests  filled  with  gold, 
containing  some  hundred  thousand  Roman  crowns,  sev¬ 
eral  boxes  filled  with  jewels,  and  a  vast  quantity  of  plate 
and  valuable  vases.  It  was  all  taken  to  Csesar’s  cham¬ 
ber  and  the  guard  at  the  door  doubled  ;  then  the  gates 
of  the  Vatican  were  thrown  open  once  more,  and  the 
proclamation  was  made  of  the  pope’s  demise. 

Although  it  was  anticipated,  it  produced  nevertheless 
a  terrible  effect  throughout  the  city,  for,  although  Caesar 
was  still  living,  his  dangerous  condition  left  every  one  in  sus¬ 
pense.  Certain  it  is  that  if  the  valiant  Duke  of  Romagna, 
the  mighty  man  of  war,  who  had  taken  thirty  cities  and 
fifteen  fortresses  in  five  years,  had  been  astride  his  war- 
horse,  sword  in  hand,  in  the  streets  of  Rome,  there  would 
not  have  been  an  instant  of  hesitation  or  uncertainty  ; 
for,  as  Machiavelli  afterwards  said,  his  ambitious  mind 
had  provided  for  every  possible  contingency  when  the 
pope  should  die,  except  that  he  might  be  at  the  point  of 
death  himself.  But  he  was  nailed  to  his  bed,  sweating 
with  agony  caused  by  his  own  poison  ;  and,  although  his 
power  of  thought  was  left  to  him,  he  had  lost  his  power 
of  action,  so  that  he  was  fain  to  wait  for  what  might 


THE  BORGIAS.  247 

happen,  and  abide  by  it,  instead  of  going  forth  to  meet 
it,  and  imparting  direction  to  it. 

He  was  obliged  to  regulate  his  actions  not  by  his  own 
plans,  but  according  to  circumstances.  His  most  bitter 
and  inveterate  foes,  those  who  could  do  him  the  most 
injury,  were  the  Orsini  and  the  Colonnas ;  of  the  former 
he  had  shed  the  blood,  and  he  had  stolen  the  property  of 
the  latter.  He  turned  in  his  need  to  those,  to  whom  he 
could  restore  what  he  had  taken  from  them,  and  opened 
negotiations  with  the  Colonnas. 

Meanwhile  the  obsequies  of  the  pope  were  proceeded 
with  in  due  form.  The  vice-chancellor  sent  imperative 
orders  to  the  higher  dignitaries  among  the  clergy,  to  the 
superiors  of  convents,  and  to  the  lay  brethren,  not  to  fail, 
under  penalty  of  being  deprived  of  their  dignities  and 
offices,  to  betake  themselves,  each  with  his  flock,  to  the 
Vatican,  to  take  part  in  the  funeral  ceremonies.  Almost 
without  exception  they  appeared  at  the  appointed  hour 
at  the  papal  palace,  whence  the  body  was  to  be  interred. 
They  found  the  body  lying  abandoned  and  alone  in  the 
chamber  of  death  ;  for  everybody  who  bore  the  name  of 
Borgia,  not  knowing  what  might  happen,  had  gone  into 
hiding.  It  was  well  for  them  that  they  did  so,  as  was 
shown  by  what  befel  one  of  them,  who  fell  in  with  Fabio 
Orsino  ;  the  latter  stabbed  him,  and  in  token  of  the 
mutual  hatred  they  had  sworn  to  each  other,  rinsed  his 
mouth  and  washed  his  hands  with  his  blood. 

The  excitement  was  so  intense  in  Rome,  that,  just  as 
Alexander’s  body  was  being  taken  into  the  church,  there 
arose  one  of  those  hoarse,  sullen  murmurs,  characteristic 
of  periods  of  popular  commotion.  It  produced  on  the 
instant  so  great  disturbance  in  the  procession,  that  the 
guards  drew  up  in  battle  order,  the  clergy  sought  shelter 
in  the  sacristy,  and  the  bearers  set  down  the  bier ;  the 


\ 


248  THE  BORGIAS. 

mob  at  once  tore  away  the  pall  and  uncovered  the  body, 
and  every  one  was  free  to  look  with  impunity  upon  the 
man,  who,  a  fortnight  earlier,  made  princes,  kings  and 
emperors  tremble  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other. 

But  the  instinctive  respect  for  death  which  every 
man  feels,  and  which  is  only  sentiment  akin  to  religious 
feeling  that  lives  in  the  heart  of  the  veriest  atheist, 
restrained  the  excitement  of  the  people ;  the  bier  was 
taken  up  and  borne  to  the  foot  of  the  high  altar  of  St. 
Peter’s  where  it  was  placed  upon  trestles,  and  the  face  of 
the  deceased  pope  exposed  to  the  public  gaze.  But  it 
had  turned  so  black  and  the  features  were  so  bloated  and 
distorted  that  it  was  a  hideous  sight;  his  mouth  was 
wide  open,  and  his  tongue  so  swollen  that  it  completely 
filled  the  cavity.  In  addition  to  the  frightful  appear¬ 
ance,  the  odor  was  so  unpleasant  that  not  a  single  soul 
offered  to  kiss  the  hand  on  which  was  the  fisherman’s 
ring,  although  it  is  the  invariable  custom  so  to  do  at  the 
funeral  of  God’s  representative  on  earth. 

About  seven  in  the  evening,  that  is  to  say  at  the  hour 
when  the  gathering  darkness  renders  the  deathly  silence 
of  a  church  more  oppressive  and  melancholy,  four  street 
porters  and  two  workmen  carried  the  pope’s  body  into 
the  chapel  where  it  was  to  be  buried.  There  it  was 
removed  from  the  catafalque  on  which  it  had  lain  in 
state,  and  placed  in  the  casket  which  was  to  be  its  last 
home.  But  the  casket  turned  out  to  be  too  short,  so  that 
they  could  only  get  the  body  in  by  bending  the  legs,  and 
pushing  with  all  their  strength.  Then  the  carpenters  put 
the  lid  in  place  and  while  one  of  them  sat  on  it  to  force 
down  the  knees,  the  other  nailed  it  on  to  the  accom¬ 
paniment  of  divers  Shakesperean  witticisms — a  fitting 
funeral  oration  to  sound  a  warning  to  the  great  ones  of 
the  earth. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


249 


He  was  interred  according  to  Tommaso  Tommasi,  at 
the  left  of  the  high  altar  of  St.  Peter’s,  in  a  wretched 
tomb.  The  next  day,  this  epitaph  was  found  written 
on  the  tombstone : 

“  Vendit  Alexander  claves ,  altaria ,  Christum:  emerat 
ille  prius ,  vendere  jure  potest.” 

Which  means : 

“  Alexander  sold  the  keys ,  the  altar  and  Christ  himself : 
it  was  right  that  he  should  sell  them ,  however ,  as  he  bought 
them  in  the  first  place” 

By  the  effect  produced  at  Rome  by  the  demise  of 
Alexander  VI.,  we  can  conceive  of  its  effect  upon  the 
whole  civilized  world,  to  say  nothing  of  the  rest  of  Italy. 
For  an  instant  Europe  wavered,  for  the  pillar  which 
sustained  the  keystone  of  the  political  structure  had 
crumbled  away,  and  the  fiery  blood-red  star,  around 
which  the  universe  had  revolved  for  eleven  years,  was 
extinct. 

Christendom  was  seized  with  a  sudden  paralysis,  and 
remained  for  a  moment  speechless  in  the  darkness. 

But  after  the  first  stupefaction  had  passed  away, 
everybody  who  had  an  injury  to  avenge  rose  up  and 
rushed  upon  the  quarry.  Sforza  recaptured  Pesaro, 
Baglione  Perouse,  Guido  of  Ubaldo  Urbino,  and  Rovere 
Sinigaglia ;  the  Vitelli  regained  possession  of  Citta  di 
Castello,  the  Appiani  of  Piombino,  and  the  Orsini  of 
Monte-Giordano  and  their  other  domains.  Romagna 
alone  was  unshaken  in  its  fidelity,  for  the  common  peo¬ 
ple,  who  cared  little  for  the  quarrels  of  the  nobles  so 
long  as  they  did  not  reach  them,  had  never  been  so 
happy  as  they  were  under  Caesar’s  rule. 

The  Colonnas  had  given  them  word  to  observe  strict 
neutrality,  in  consideration  of  which  they  had  been  re¬ 
stored  to  possession  of  their  castles,  and  the  cities  of 


250 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Chinazzano,  Capo  d’Anno,  Frascati,  Kocca  di  Popa, 
Nettuno,  all  of  which  they  found  in  better  shape  than 
when  they  left  them,  for  the  pope  had  spent  large  sums 
in  beautifying  and  fortifying  them. 

Caesar  continued  to  hold  the  Vatican  with  his  troops, 
who  remained  faithful  to  him  in  adversity,  and  kept 
guard  around  the  palace  where  he  lay  writhing  on  a  bed 
of  pain,  roaring  like  a  wounded  lion.  The  cardinals, 
who  scattered  in  every  direction  in  their  fright  instead 
of  presiding  at  the  obsequies  of  the  pope,  began  to  hold 
meetings,  sometimes  at  Minerva,  and  sometimes  at  Car¬ 
dinal  Caraffa’s.  In  their  alarm  at  the  force  which 
Caesar  still  had  at  his  disposal,  especially  that  portion 
of  it  which  was  commanded  by  Michelotto,  they  contri¬ 
buted  all  the  money  they  could  raise  to  levy  an  army 
of  two  thousand  men,  of  whom  Carlo  Taneo  was  ap¬ 
pointed  commander,  with  the  title  of  Captain  of  the 
Sacred  College. 

They  were  beginning  to  hope  that  this  step  would 
really  result  in  restoring  tranquillity  when  they  learned 
that  Prosper  Colonnawas  approaching  from  Naples  with 
three  thousand  men,  and  Fabio  Orsino  from  Viterbo 
with  two  hundred  horse  and  more  than  a  thousand  foot. 
They  entered  Kome  on  successive  days,  both  being 
moved  by  the  same  ardent  wish  to  make  the  most  of  the 
opportunity. 

Thus  there  were  five  armies  in  Kome,  almost  in  sight 
of  each  other ;  Caesar’s  which  was  in  possession  of  the 
Vatican  and  the  Borgo ;  the  army  of  the  Bishop  of 
Nicastro,  to  whom  Caesar  had  given  .charge  of  the  Cas¬ 
tle  of  San  Angelo,  and  who  refused  to  give  it  up ;  the 
army  of  the  Sacred  College,  quartered  in  the  suburb  of 
Minerva ;  Prosper  Colonna’s  in  camp  by  the  Capitol ; 
and  Fabio  Orsino’s  in  barracks  at  Eipetta. 


THE  BORGIAS.  251 

The  Spaniards  too,  had  advanced  to  Terracina,  and 
the  French  to  Nepi. 

The  cardinals  realized  that  Rome  was  over  a  mine 
which  the  least  spark  would  explode.  They  assembled 
the  ambassadors  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  the  Kings 
of  France  and  Spain,  and  the  Republic  of  Venice,  to 
urge  them  to  make  themselves  heard  in  the  names  of 
their  masters.  The  ambassadors  were  thoroughly  im¬ 
pressed  with  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  began  by 
declaring  the  Sacred  College  inviolable ;  they  then  or¬ 
dered  the  Colonnas,  the  Orsini,  and  the  Duke  of  Ro¬ 
magna,  severally,  to  leave  Rome  at  once. 

The  Orsini  were  the  first  to  bow  to  this  order ;  on  the 
following  day  their  example  was  followed  by  the  Colon¬ 
nas.  Csesar  alone  was  left,  and  he  said  that  he  would 
consent  to  go,  but  desired  first  to  exact  certain  condi¬ 
tions.  He  declared  that  the  cellars  of  the  Vatican  were 
mined,  and  that  if  they  refused  what  he  asked,  he  would 
blow  himself  up  with  those  who  came  to  take  him.  They 
were  well  aware  that  there  was  nothing  he  was  not  cap¬ 
able  of  doing,  so  they  treated  with  him. 

It  was  agreed  that  he  should  leave  Rome  with  his 
army,  his  artillery  and  his  baggage-train,  and  that  the 
Sacred  College  should  add  four  hundred  infantry  to  his 
force  to  insure  him  against  attack  or  annoyance  in  the 
streets  of  Rome. 

Caesar  promised  that  he  would  remain  at  least  ten 
miles  from  Rome  during  the  sessions  of  the  conclave, 
and  that  he  would  engage  in  no  undertaking  against  the 
city  or  any  other  of  the  States  of  the  Church.  Fabio  Or- 
sino  and  Prosper  Colonna  made  a  similar  agreement.  The 
Venetian  ambassador  guaranteed  the  performance  of  the 
agreement  by  the  Orsini,  the  Spanish  ambassador  did  as 
much  for  the  Colonnas,  and  the  ambassador  of  Louis 


252 


THE  BORGIAS. 


XII.  for  the  Duke  of  Komagna.  At  the  appointed 
time  Caesar  dispatched  in  the  first  place  his  artillery, 
consisting  of  eighteen  guns,  accompanied  by  the  four 
hundred  foot-soldiers  sent  by  the  Sacred  College,  to  each 
one  of  whom  he  gave  a  ducat.  Behind  the  artillery 
came  a  hundred  chariots,  escorted  by  his  vanguard. 

The  duke  emerged  from  the  Vatican,  lying  on  a  bed 
shaded  by  a  scarlet  canopy,  and  borne  by  twelve  of  his 
halberdiers.  His  elbow  was  resting  on  the  cushions, 
and  his  head  was  supported  by  his  hand,  so  that  every 
one  could  see  his  purple  lips  and  bloodshot  eyes.  His 
naked  sword  lay  at  his  side,  as  if  to  indicate  that,  wTeak 
as  he  was,  he  would  make  use  of  it  at  need ;  his  best 
war  horse,  with  black  velvet  trappings  upon  which  his 
arms  were  embroidered,  was  led  by  a  page  beside  his 
bed,  so  that  he  could  leap  into  the  saddle  in  case  of  a 
sudden  attack.  Before  and  behind  him,  and  to  right 
and  left,  his  army  bore  him  company,  with  arms  in 
readiness,  but  with  no  sound  of  drum  or  trumpet,  the 
result  being  that  the  whole  effect  of  the  cortege  was 
decidedly  funereal. 

At  the  city  gate  they  found  Prosper  Colonna  waiting 
with  a  considerable  force. 

Caesar’s  first  thought  was  that  Colonna  proposed  to 
break  his  agreement,  as  he  himself  had  so  often  done, 
and  attack  him.  He  at  once  ordered  a  halt,  and  pre¬ 
pared  to  mount  his  horse  ;  but  Colonna  divined  his  fear, 
and  came  forward  alone  to  his  bedside.  His  purpose  in 
waiting,  he  said,  was  to  offer  to  escort  Caesar  to  his  desti¬ 
nation,  fearing  an  ambuscade  on  the  part  of  Fabio 
Orsino,  who  had  freely  sworn  that  he  would  either  avenge 
the  death  of  his  father,  Paolo  Orsino,  or  lose  his  own 
honor  in  the  attempt. 

Caesar  thanked  him,  but  replied  that  so  long  as  Orsino 


THE  BORGIAS. 


253 


was  alone  he  had  no  fear  of  him.  So  Colonna  saluted 
him,  and  rode  back  to  his  troops,  with  whom  he  took 
the  direction  of  Albano,  while  Csesar,  headed  for  Citta 
Castellana,  which  was  still  true  to  him. 

When  he  arrived  there  Csesar  found  that  he  not  only 
had  his  own  fate  in  his  own  hands  once  more,  but  that 
he  was  in  a  position  to  decide  the  fate  of  others  as  well. 
Out  of  the  twenty-two  votes  his  father  had  in  the  Sacred 
College,  twelve  were  faithful  to  himself,  and  as  the  con¬ 
clave  consisted  in  all  of  thirty-seven  cardinals,  he  held 
the  balance  of  power  with  his  twelve,  and  could  give 
whatever  direction  he  chose  to  the  action  of  the  con¬ 
clave.  Consequently  he  was  made  much  of  by  the 
Spanish  faction  and  the  French  faction  in  equal  measure, 
each  being  desirous  of  the  election  of  a  pope  of  its  own 
nation.  Csesar  listened  to  them  all  without  promising 
or  refusing  anything,  and  finally  gave  his  twelve  votes 
to  Fra^esco  Piccolomini,  Cardinal  of  Sienna,  one  of 
his  father’s  creatures,  who  continued  to  be  friendly  to 
him.  He  was  chosen  pope  on  October  8,  and  took  the 
name  of  Pius  III. 

Caesar’s  hopes  were  not  disappointed :  as  soon  as  his 
election  was  announced,  Pius  sent  him  a  safe-conduct  to 
return  to  Rome,  and  the  duke  reappeared  there  with  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men-at-arms,  and  eight  hundred  infan¬ 
try.  He  took  up  his  quarters  in  his  own  palace,  and  his 
troops  camped  in  the  neighborhood. 

Meanwhile  the  Orsini,  in  pursuance  of  their  purpose 
to  wreak  vengeance  upon  Csesar,  were  levying  great 
numbers  of  troops  in  Perouse  and  its  neighborhood  with 
whom  to  attack  him  even  in  Rome  itself.  They  thought 
they  could  discern  that  France,  in  whose  service  they  then 
were,  was  very  considerate  in  her  treatment  of  the  duke, 
on  account  of  his  twelve  votes,  upon  which  she  relied  to 


254 


THE  BORGIAS. 


secure  the  choice  of  Cardinal  d’ Amboise  at  the  approach¬ 
ing  conclave  ;  and  so  they  went  over  to  the  Spaniards. 

About  the  same  time  Caesar  signed  a  new  treaty  with 
Louis  XII.,  whereby  he  bound  himself  to  support  him 
with  all  his  power,  and  in  person,  as  soon  as  he  could 
sit  a  horse,  in  maintaining  his  hold  upon  Naples  :  Louis 
XII.  on  his  side  guaranteed  him  the  possession  of  those 
States  which  he  still  held  and  promised  to  assist  him  to 
recover  those  he  had  lost. 

On  the  day  when  this  treaty  was  known,  Gonzalvo  of 
Cordova  caused  to  be  promulgated  to  the  sound  of  trum¬ 
pets  in  the  streets  of  Rome,  an  order  to  every  subject  of 
the  King  of  Spain  serving  in  the  army  of  any  other 
nation  to  break  his  engagement  at  once,  under  pain  of 
being  deemed  guilty  of  high  treason.  This  measure 
deprived  Caesar  of  ten  or  twelve  of  his  best  officers  and 
about  three  hundred  soldiers. 

Thereupon  the  Orsini,  knowing  of  this  reduction  of 
his  army  entered  Rome,  under  the  countenance  of  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  and  cited  Caesar  to  appear  before 
the  pope  and  the  Sacred  College,  there  to  be  called  to 
account  for  his  crimes. 

True  to  his  promise,  Pius  III.  replied  that  the  Duke 
of  Romagna,  being  a  sovereign  prince,  was  responsible 
to  no  human  being  but  himself  so  far  as  his  temporal 
acts  were  concerned,  and  only  God  could  call  him  to 
account  therefor. 

However,  the  pope  felt  that,  notwithstanding  that  his 
will  was  good,  he  might  not  be  able  to  protect  Caesar 
against  his  enemies  for  long ;  and  so  he  advised  him  to 
try  and  join  the  French  army  which  was  still  marching 
upon  Naples,  insisting  that  there  and  only  there  would 
he  be  in  safety. 

Caesar  determined  to  withdraw  to  Bracciano,  where 


THE  BORGIAS. 


255 


Giovanni  Giordano  Orsino,  who  once  went  with  him  to 
France,  and  was  the  only  one  of  his  family  who  had  not 
declared  against  him,  offered  him  protection  in  the  name 
of  Cardinal  d’Amboise.  One  morning  he  ordered  his 
troops  under  arms,  and,  taking  his  place  at  their  head, 
rode  out  of  Rome. 

But,  although  Caesar  had  maintained  absolute  secrecy 
concerning  his  plan,  the  Orsini  had  notice  of  it.  The 
night  before  his  departure  they  led  all  their  available 
troops  out  by  the  San-Pancrazio  gate,  and,  by  making  a 
long  detour  succeeded  in  intercepting  him.  So  that 
when  Caesar  reached  Storta,  he  found  the  army  of  the 
Orsini,  which  was  at  least  half  as  large  again  as  his  own, 
awaiting  his  coming  in  order  of  battle. 

Caesar  realized  that  to  fight  in  his  still  feeble  state  was 
to  rush  straight  upon  destruction ;  he  therefore  ordered 
his  troops  to  retrace  their  steps,  and  being  an  excellent 
strategist  he  managed  his  retreat  so  skilfully,  that  the 
enemy,  while  following  close  upon  his  heels,  did  not  dare 
to  attack  him,  and  he  re-entered  the  papal  city  without 
the  loss  of  a  single  man. 

On  this  occasion  Caesar  rode  straight  to  the  Vatican  in 
order  to  place  himself  still  more  directly  under  the  pope’s 
protection.  He  distributed  his  soldiers  around  the  palace 
in  such  way  as  to  keep  watch  upon  all  the  exits  therefrom. 

The  Orsini  were  determined  to  bring  matters  to  a  crisis 
with  him  wherever  he  might  be,  without  regard  to  the 
sanctity  of  the  spot ;  and  they  attempted  so  to  do,  but 
without  success,  his  troops  kept  such  good  watch,  and 
presented  such  a  bold  front. 

When  they  failed  to  force  the  defences  of  the  Castle 
of  San  Angelo,  they  hoped  to  have  better  luck  by  leav¬ 
ing  the  city  again,  and  returning  to  the  attack  by  the 
Torione  gate.  But  Caesar  anticipated  the  manoeuvre, 


256 


THE  BORGIAS. 


and  they  found  the  gate  barricaded  and  well  guarded. 
They  nevertheless  persisted  in  their  plan,  and  thence¬ 
forth  pursued  openly  the  vengeance  which  they  hoped  to 
obtain  by  stratagem.  Having  taken  by  surprise  the 
approaches  to  the  gate  they  set  fire  to  it ;  and  through 
the  opening  thus  made  forced  their  way  into  the  garden 
of  the  Vatican  where  they  found  Caesar  awaiting  them  at 
the  head  of  his  cavalry. 

Brought  face  to  face  with  imminent  danger,  Caesar 
seemed  to  recover  all  his  prowess ;  he  led  his  troops  in  a 
headlong  rush  upon  the  enemy,  calling  loudly  upon 
Orsino  by  name,  in  the  hope  of  making  an  end  of  him 
in  a  personal  encounter.  But  Orsino  either  did  not  hear 
him,  or  did  not  dare  meet  him  hand  in  hand ;  and  after 
a  desperate  struggle,  Caesar,  whose  numerical  strength 
was  less  than  a  third  that  of  his  adversary,  saw  his 
cavalry  cut  to  pieces,  and  was  obliged  to  seek  refuge 
in  the  Vatican,  having  himself  performed  miracles  of 
strength  and  daring. 

He  found  the  pope  writhing  in  the  death  agony.  The 
Orsini,  weary  of  struggling  against  the  effects  of  the 
promise  the  old  man  had  given  to  Caesar,  had  succeeded, 
through  the  medium  of  Pandolfo  Petrucci,  in  winning 
over  the  pope’s  surgeon,  who  applied  a  poisoned  plaster 
to  a  wound  on  one  of  his  legs. 

The  pope,  as  we  say,  was  at  the  point  of  death  when 
Caesar,  covered  with  dust  and  reeking  with  blood,  rushed 
into  his  apartment,  hotly  pursued  by  his  enemies,  who 
stopped  only  at  the  very  walls  of  the  palace,  behind  which 
the  remnant  of  his  army  was  drawn  up  in  some  sort  of  order. 

Pius  III.,  who  felt  that  he  was  dying,  rose  in  his  bed, 
and  handed  Caesar  the  key  of  the  passage  leading  to  the 
Castle  of  San  Angelo,  together  with  an  order  to  the  gov¬ 
ernor  of  the  fortress  to  admit  him  with  his  family,  to 


THE  BORGIAS. 


257 


defend  him  to  the  last  extremity,  and  to  allow  him  to 
take  his  leave  whenever  he  so  desired.  Then  he  fell 
back  in  a  swoon  upon  the  bed. 

Csesar  took  his  two  daughters  by  the  hand,  and  took 
refuge  in  this  last  asylum  which  was  open  to  him,  followed 
by  the  little  dukes  of  Sermonetta  and  Nepi. 

That  same  night  the  pope  died  after  a  reign  of  twenty- 
six  days. 

About  two  o’clock  in  the  morning,  just  as  the  breath 
was  leaving  his  body,  Csesar,  who  had  thrown  himself 
fully  dressed  upon  his  bed,  heard  the  door  of  his  chamber 
open.  Unable  to  conceive  what  any  one  could  want 
with  him  at  that  hour,  he  raised  himself  on  his  elbow, 
feeling  with  the  other  hand  for  the  hilt  of  his  sword ; 
but  at  the  first  glance  he  recognized  his  nocturnal  visitor  ; 
it  was  Giulio  della  Rovere. 

Devoured  by  poison  though  he  was,  abandoned  by  his 
troops,  and  lamentably  fallen  from  the  dizzy  height  of 
power  and  influence,  Csesar,  although  he  could  do  noth¬ 
ing  for  himself  might  still  make  a  pope  !  Giulio  della 
Rovere  had  come  to  buy  the  votes  of  his  twelve  cardinals. 

Csesar  laid  down  his  conditions,  which  were  accepted. 

Immediately  after  his  election  Giulio  was  to  assist  him 
to  recover  his  Romagnese  dominions  ;  Csesar  was  to  con¬ 
tinue  to  be  General  of  the  Church  !  and  Francesco 
Maria  della  Rovere  was  to  wed  one  of  his  daughters. 

On  these  conditions  Csesar  sold  his  twelve  cardinals 
to  Giulio. 

On  the  following  day  at  Giulio’s  request,  the  Sacred 
College  ordered  the  Orsini  to  leave  Rome  during  the 
sittings  of  the  conclave. 

On  the  thirty-first  of  October,  1503,  on  the  first  ballot, 
Giulio  della  Rovere  was  chosen  pope,  and  took  the  name 
of  Julius  II. 

Vol.  II.— 17. 


258 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Almost  his  first  act  after  his  installation  at  the  Vati¬ 
can  was  to  invite  Csesar  to  return  thither,  and  to  give 
him  his  former  apartment.  Thereupon  the  duke,  whose 
convalescence  was  well  advanced,  began  to  look  to  the 
rehabilitation  of  his  affairs,  which  had  been  going  from 
bad  to  worse  for  some  time  past. 

The  defeat  of  his  army,  and  his  withdrawal  to  the 
Castle  of  San  Angelo,  where  he  was  thought  to  be  held 
a  prisoner,  had  brought  about  great  changes  in  Romag¬ 
na.  Cesena  became  once  more  a  fief  of  the  Church  as 
formerly  ;  Giovanni  Sforza  re-entered  Pesaro ;  Ordelafi 
seized  upon  Forli ;  Malatesta  made  good  his  claim  to 
Rimini ;  the  people  of  Immola  murdered  their  governor, 
and  the  city  was  about  equally  divided  between  those 
who  wished  to  restore  the  Riarii  to  power,  and  those  who 
wished  to  become  one  of  the  States  of  the  Church. 
Faenza  remained  faithful  longer  than  any  other  place, 
but  at  last  it,  too,  lost  hope  of  Csesar’s  recovering  his 
power,  and  recalled  the  Manfredi  in  the  person  of  Fran¬ 
cesco,  natural  son  of  Galeotto  Manfredi,  the  last  and 
only  scion  of  that  ill-starred  race,  of  which  all  the  legiti¬ 
mate  descendants  had  been  murdered  by  Borgia. 

It  should  be  said  that  the  fortresses  in  these  various 
places  had  taken  no  part  in  the  general  overturning,  but 
remained  unshaken  in  their  fidelity  to  the  Duke  of 
Romagna  ;  so  that  it  was  not  the  defection  of  the  towns 
which  caused  him  and  Julius  II.  the  greatest  uneasiness, 
for  the  possession  of  the  fortresses  would  make  it  easy  to 
reconquer  them.  The  attitude  assumed  by  Venice  with 
reference  to  these  towns  was  a  much  more  fruitful  source 
of  anxiety. 

In  the  spring  of  that  year  Venice  concluded  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  the  Turk.  Being  thus  rid  for  the  time  of 
her  eternal  enemy,  she  moved  her  troops  in  the  direction 


THE  BORGIAS. 


259 


of  Romagna,  which  she  had  always  coveted.  They  were 
massed  at  Ravenna,  the  last  place  within  her  territories, 
and  placed  under  the  command  of  Jacopo  Yenieri,  who 
came  within  an  ace  of  taking  Cesena  by  surprise,  and 
failed  only  because  of  the  dauntless  bravery  of  the  peo¬ 
ple.  This  rebuff,  however,  was  soon  compensated  by  the 
surrender  of  the  fortresses  of  Val  di  Lamone,  and 
Faenza,  by  the  capture  of  Forlini  Popoli,  and  by  the 
surrender  of  Rimini,  which  Pandolfo  Petrucci,  its  suzer¬ 
ain,  exchanged  for  the  lordship  of  Cittadella  in  Padua, 
and  a  place  in  the  ranks  of  the  Venetian  nobility. 

Thereupon  Caesar  made  a  proposition  to  Julius  II., 
namely  that  the  Church  should  take  over  his  Romagnese 
dominions  temporarily,  so  that  the  respect  entertained  by 
the  Venetians  for  the  papal  jurisdiction  might  save  them 
from  their  incursions.  But,  says  Guicciardini,  Julius  II., 
in  whose  heart  the  ambition  so  natural  to  sovereign 
princes  had  not  yet  stifled  every  vestige  of  uprightness, 
refused  to  take  over  the  places,  to  avoid  the  inevitable 
temptation  to  retain  them,  contrary  to  his  promises,  when 
called  upon  to  give  them  back. 

As  the  situation  was  becoming  serious,  however,  he 
suggested  to  Caesar  that  he  leave  Rome  and  take  ship  at 
Ostia  for  Spezzia,  where  Michelotto  was  waiting  to  re¬ 
ceive  him,  at  the  head  of  a  hundred  men-at-arms  and  a 
hundred  light  horse,  the  only  remnant  of  his  magnifi¬ 
cent  army.  Thence  he  could  go  by  land  to  Ferrara,  and 
from  Ferrara  to  Immola,  and  from  that  place  raise  his 
war-cry  loud  enough  to  be  heard  throughout  Romagna. 

This  was  advice  after  Caesar’s  own  heart,  and  he  ac¬ 
cepted  it  without  a  moment’s  hesitation.  His  plan  was 
approved  by  the  Sacred  College,  and  Caesar  set  out  for 
Ostia,  accompanied  by  Bartolomeo  della  Rovere,  his 
Holiness’  nephew. 


260 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Caesar  believed  that  he  was  free  at  last,  and  in  his 
fancy  saw  himself  astride  his  war-horse,  bearing  his 
blood-stained  banner  once  more  into  those  regions  where 
he  had  already  fought  and  conquered  ;  but  at  Ostia  he 
was  overtaken  by  the  Cardinals  of  Sorrento  and  Vol- 
terra,  who  demanded,  in  the  name  of  Julius  II.,  the 
delivery  of  the  self-same  citadels  which  only  three  days 
before  he  refused  to  receive.  The  fact  was  that  in  the 
interim  the  pope  had  learned  that  the  Venetians  were 
steadily  advancing,  and  had  come  to  see  that  Caesar’s 
plan  was  the  only  one  which  would  check  them. 

But  now  it  was  Caesar’s  turn  to  refuse,  for  all  this 
vacillation  alarmed  him ;  he  feared  that  it  concealed 
some  trap,  and  he  consequently  replied  that  the  cession 
which  the  pope  called  for  was  useless,  for  with  God’s 
help  he  would  be  in  Romagna  within  a  week. 

The  Cardinals  of  Sorrento  and  Volterra  returned  to 
Rome  with  his  refusal,  and  the  next  morning,  as  Caesar 
was  stepping  aboard  his  galley,  he  was  arrested  in  the 
name  of  the  pope. 

His  first  thought  was  that  it  was  all  over  with  him  ; 
he  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  such  modes  of  proce¬ 
dure,  and  knew  how  short  is  the  distance  between  the 
prison  and  the  tomb.  Indeed  there  would  be  even  less  diffi¬ 
culty  about  making  the  journey  short  in  his  case  than  in 
most,  because  the  pope  could  if  he  chose,  find  no  end  of 
pretexts  for  proceeding  against  him.  But  the  then 
pope’s  heart  was  of  a  different  temper  from  his  ;  he  was 
quick  to  wrath,  but  equally  quick  to  recover  from  it, 
and  when  the  Duke  of  Romagna  was  brought  back  to 
Rome  by  his  guards,  the  momentary  irritation  which 
Julius  felt  at  his  refusal  had  already  vanished,  and  he 
was  welcomed  by  him  with  his  usual  courtesy  and  affa¬ 
bility.  It  was  easy  to  see,  however,  that  close  watch 


THE  BORGIAS. 


261 


was  kept  upon  his  movements  thereafter.  In  return  for 
his  cordial  welcome  Caesar  agreed  to  cede  to  him  the 
fortress  of  Cesena,  as  a  town  which  formerly  belonged  to 
the  Church  and  was  now  restored  to  her.  He  placed  the 
act  of  cession  signed  by  himself,  in  the  hands  of  one  of 
his  captains,  named  Pierre  Oviedo,  and  ordered  him  to 
take  possession  of  the  fortress  in  the  name  of  the  Holy 
See.  Oviedo  at  once  set  out  for  Cesena,  and  presented 
himself,  armed  with  the  aforesaid  act,  before  Diego 
Chignone,  a  Spanish  nobleman  and  general,  who  held  the 
fortress  on  behalf  of  the  Duke  of  Romagna. 

After  perusing  the  document  handed  him  by  Oviedo, 
Don  Diego  replied  that  he  knew  his  lord  and  master  to 
be  a  prisoner,  and  it  would  be  rank  infamy  in  him  to 
obey  an  order  which  was  in  all  probability  extorted  from 
him  by  duress.  He  added,  that  in  his  opinion  the  bearer 
of  the  order  deserved  death  for  having  undertaken  so 
dastardly  a  mission ;  he  therefore  ordered  his  soldiers 
to  throw  him  from  the  top  of  the  wall,  and  his  orders 
were  executed  on  the  spot. 

This  scrupulous  fidelity  was  near  being  fatal  to  Csesar ; 
when  the  pope  learned  of  the  way  his  messenger  had 
been  treated  he  flew  into  such  a  towering  passion  that 
his  prisoner  for  the  second  time  thought  himself  lost. 
He  therefore  attempted  to  purchase  his  liberty  by 
making  certain  new  propositions  to  Julius,  which 
were  put  in  the  form  of  a  treaty  and  sanctioned  by 
a  bull. 

The  Duke  of  Romagna  was  bound  thereby  to  place  in 
the  hands  of  his  Holiness  within  forty  days  the  fortresses 
of  Cesena  and  Bertorino,  and  to  countersign  the  order 
for  the  surrender  of  the  fortress  of  Forli ;  the  whole  to  be 
guaranteed  by  two  bankers  of  Rome  in  the  sum  of  fifteen 
thousand  ducats,  the  sum  total  of  the  expenses  alleged 


262 


THE  BORGIAS. 


by  the  governor  to  have  been  incurred  there  on  the 
duke’s  account. 

On  his  side  the  pope  agreed  that  Caesar  should  be 
escorted  to  Ostia  with  no  other  guard  than  the  Cardinal 
of  Santa-Croce  and  two  officers,  who  were  to  restore  him 
to  liberty  absolutely  as  soon  as  his  agreements  were 
carried  out.  If  he  failed  to  carry  them  out  he  was  to  be 
taken  back  to  Rome  and  imprisoned  in  the  Castle  of 
San  Angelo. 

In  pursuance  of  this  treaty  Caesar  descended  the 
Tiber  to  Ostia,  accompanied  by  the  pope’s  treasurer, 
and  several  of  his  servants ;  the  Cardinal  of  Santa- 
Croce  set  out  somewhat  later,  and  overtook  him  the 
same  day. 

However,  Caesar  feared  that,  after  the  fortresses  were 
given  up,  Julius  II.  might  break  his  word,  and  detain 
him  as  a  prisoner ;  so  he  made  a  request,  through  the 
medium  of  Cardinals  Borgia  and  Remolino,  who  had 
fled  to  Naples  because  they  thought  that  they  were  not 
safe  in  Rome,  he  made  a  request,  through  them,  for  a 
safe-conduct  from  Gonzalvo  of  Cordova,  and  for  two 
galleys,  that  he  might  join  him  in  Naples.  The  same 
courier  returned  at  once  with  the  safe-conduct,  and  an¬ 
nounced  that  the  galleys  would  follow  very  soon. 

Meanwhile  the  Cardinal  of  Santa-Croce  had  learned 
that  the  governors  of  Cesena  and  Bertorino  had  turned 
over  those  fortresses  to  the  agents  of  his  Holiness ; 
so  that  he  gradually  relaxed  his  vigilance,  and  began  to 
allow  him  to  go  about  without  a  guard,  knowing  that  his 
liberty  would  be  fully  restored  within  a  day  or  two. 

Caesar,  with  the  fear  at  his  heart  that  the  same  thing 
which  happened  to  him  as  he  was  stepping  aboard  the 
pope’s  galleys  a  short  time  before,  might  happen  to  him 
again  as  he  was  stepping  aboard  Gonzalvo’ s,  concealed 


THE  BORGIAS. 


263 


himself  in  a  house  just  outside  the  town,  and  after  night¬ 
fall  rode  to  Nettuno  on  a  peasant’s  sorry  nag.  There  he 
hired  a  small  boat,  and  set  sail  for  Mont-Dragone,  whence 
he  made  his  way  to  Naples. 

Gonzalvo  received  him  with  such  exuberant  delight 
that  Csesar  went  entirely  astray  as  to  his  motive,  and 
congratulated  himself  that  he  was  safe  at  last.  His  con¬ 
fidence  increased  twofold  when  he  laid  his  projects 
before  Gonzalvo,  and  told  him  that  he  proposed  to  go  to 
Pisa  and  make  his  way  thence  into  Romagna,  for 
Gonzalvo  authorized  him  to  levy  as  many  soldiers  in 
Naples  as  he  chose,  and  promised  him  two  galleys  to 
transport  them. 

Csesar,  with  every  possible  suspicion  lulled  to  sleep  by 
these  demonstrations,  tarried  at  Naples  nearly  six  weeks, 
meeting  the  Spanish  governor  every  day,  and  discussing 
his  present  and  future  projects  with  him. 

But  Gonzalvo’s  object  in  detaining  him  was  simply  to 
gain  time  to  advise  the  King  of  Spain  that  his  foe  was 
in  his  hands.  When  Csesar  betook  himself  to  the  castle,  to 
take  his  leave  of  Gonzalvo,  having  already  sent  his  troops 
aboard  the  galleys  in  anticipation  of  speedy  departure, 
the  governor  received  him  as  courteously  as  his  wont  was, 
wished  him  all  sorts  of  good  luck,  and  embraced  him  when 
they  parted.  But  at  the  castle  gate,  Csesar  found  one  of 
Gonzalvo’s  officers,  one  Nuno  Campejo,  who  arrested  him 
in  the  name  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic. 

Csesar  heaved  a  deep  sigh,  and  bitterly  cursed  his  luck, 
which  had  led  him,  who  had  so  often  broken  his  own 
word,  to  trust  to  the  word  of  an  enemy. 

He  was  immediately  taken  to  the  castle,  and  the  dun¬ 
geon  door  closed  upon  him,  leaving  him  utterly  helpless 
of  succor  from  any  quarter ;  for  the  only  being  on  earth 
whose  devotion  still  endured  was  Michelotto,  and  he  was 


264 


THE  BORGIAS. 


told  that  Michelotto  had  also  been  arrested  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Pisa  by  order  of  J ulius  II. 

While  he  was  being  taken  to  prison  an  officer  came  to 
him  and  took  away  the  safe-conduct  sent  him  by 
Gonzalvo. 

On  the  day  following  his  arrest,  which  took  place  on 
the  twenty-seventh  of  May,  1504,  Caesar  was  taken 
aboard  a  galley,  which  at  once  weighed  anchor,  and 
made  all  sail  for  Spain  ;  throughout  the  voyage  he  had 
nobody  but  a  single  page  to  serve  him,  and  immediately 
upon  his  debarkation  he  was  taken  to  the  Castle  of 
Medina  del  Campo. 

Ten  years  later  Gonzalvo,  on  his  death  bed  at  Loxa, 
himself  a  proscribed  and  hunted  man,  confessed  that 
there  were  two  actions  which  weighed  heavily  upon  his 
conscience  when  he  thought  of  appearing  before  the 
judgment  seat  of  God ;  one  was  his  treachery  to  Ferdi¬ 
nand,  and  the  other  his  breach  of  faith  with  Csesar. 

Caesar  remained  two  years  in  prison,  living  on  the  hope 
that  Louis  XII.  would  demand  his  release  as  a  peer  of 
France.  But  Louis  XII.  was  panic  stricken  by  the 
defeat  of  his  army  in  the  battle  of  Garigliano,  which 
rescued  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  from  his  grasp,  and  he 
had  enough  to  occupy  him  with  his  own  affairs,  without 
undertaking  to  intervene  in  his  cousin’s. 

The  prisoner  was  beginning  to  despair,  when,  on  break¬ 
ing  the  bread  brought  to  him  one  morning  for  breakfast, 
he  found  inside  a  file,  a  vial  of  some  sleep-producing 
liquid,  and  a  note  from  Michelotto  to  the  effect  that  he 
had  escaped  from  prison,  had  left  Italy  and  followed  him 
to  Spain,  and  was  in  hiding  in  the  nearest  village  with 
the  Count  of  Benevento.  He  added  that  he  and  the 
count  would  await  him  every  night  on  the  road  from  the 
fortress  to  the  village  with  three  excellent  horses ;  and 


THE  BORGIAS. 


265 


that  he,  Caesar,  must  make  the  best  possible  use  of  the 
file  and  the  vial.  When  the  whole  world  turned  its 
back  upon  the  Duke  of  Romagna,  a  mere  hired  desperado 
remembered  him. 

The  confinement  Caesar  had  endured  for  two  years 
bore  too  hard  upon  him  for  him  to  lose  a  single  instant. 
He  set  to  work  the  same  day  upon  one  of  the  bars  at 
his  window,  which  looked  upon  an  interior  courtyard, 
and  easily  succeeded  in  putting  it  in  such  a  state  that 
but  one  wrench  was  needed  to  sever  it.  But  not  only 
was  the  window  some  seventy  feet  from  the  ground  ;  the 
only  means  of  exit  from  the  courtyard  was  a  postern  re¬ 
served  exclusively  for  the  governor,  of  which  he  alone 
had  a  key ;  and  that  key  never  went  out  of  his  pos¬ 
session  but  hung  at  his  belt  by  day,  and  lay  beneath  his 
pillow  at  night.  Therein  lay  the  principal  difficulty  to 
be  overcome. 

Prisoner  as  he  was  Caesar  was  always  treated  with  the 
consideration  due  his  name  and  rank.  Every  day  at 
the  dinner  hour  the  governor  sent  to  his  cell  to  invite 
him  to  dine  with  him,  and  did  the  honors  of  his  table 
like  the  noble,  courteous  gentleman  he  was.  It  should 
be  said  that  Don  Manuel,  the  governor,  was  an  old  cam¬ 
paigner  who  had  served  with  honor  under  King  Ferdi¬ 
nand  :  the  result  being  that,  while  he  kept  the  closest 
watch  upon  Caesar,  in  accordance  with  strict  orders  he 
had  received,  he  had  the  greatest  respect  for  such  a  gal¬ 
lant  officer,  and  listened  with  great  delight  to  his  stories 
of  the  battles  he  had  taken  part  in. 

He  frequently  insisted  that  Caesar  should  breakfast  as 
well  as  dine  with  him  ;  but  fortunately  for  him,  perhaps 
because  he  had  a  presentiment  of  what  was  to  happen, 
he  always  declined  that  honor  up  to  this  time.  Well 
was  it  for  him  that  he  did  so,  for  if  he  had  not  breakfasted 


266 


THE  BORGIAS. 


alone  he  would  not  have  received  the  means  or  instru¬ 
ments  of  escape  sent  in  by  Michelotto. 

It  so  happened  that  Caesar,  on  the  very  evening  after 
he  received  them,  made  a  misstep  as  he  was  ascending 
the  stairs  to  his  room,  and  sprained  his  ankle.  When 
the  dinner  hour  arrived  he  tried  to  go  down,  but  the 
pain  was  so  great,  so  he  said,  that  he  gave  up  the  idea. 
The  governor  went  to  his  room  to  see  him,  and  found 
him  at  full  length  upon  the  bed. 

The  next  day  Caesar  seemed  to  be  no  better,  and  the 
governor  after  a  solitary  dinner  came  to  visit  him  as  he 
did  the  night  before.  He  found  him  so  depressed  and 
bored  by  solitude  that  he  offered  to  take  supper  with 
him  there,  and  Caesar  gratefully  welcomed  the  suggestion. 

On  this  occasion  the  prisoner  entertained  his  gaoler, 
and  did  it  with  charming  tact  and  courtesy.  The  gov¬ 
ernor  took  advantage  of  their  mutual  waiver  of  reserve 
to  ask  him  many  questions  as  to  the  manner  of  his  arrest, 
and  like  a  true  knight  of  old  Castile,  in  whose  mind 
honor  still  counted  for  something,  begged  to  know  the 
truth  as  to  the  breach  of  faith  committed  by  Gonzalvo 
and  Ferdinand  in  respect  of  him.  Caesar  seemed  more 
than  willing  to  tell  him  the  whole  story,  but  implied  by 
a  sign  that  the  servants  were  in  the  way.  This  seemed 
so  natural,  that  the  governor  took  no  offence,  but  hur¬ 
ried  everybody  out  of  the  room  so  that  the  story  might 
be  begun  as  soon  as  possible. 

When  the  door  was  closed,  Caesar  filled  his  own  glass 
and  the  governor’s,  proposing  the  king’s  health ;  the 
governor  drank  it  enthusiastically.  Caesar  thereupon 
began  his  narrative,  but  was  less  than  a  third  of  the 
way  through  when  his  guest’s  eyes  closed  as  if  by  magic, 
despite  the  engrossing  interest  of  the  story,  and  he  fell 
forward  upon  the  table,  sound  asleep. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


267 


Half  an  hour  later  the  servants,  hearing  no  noise,  en¬ 
tered  the  room  and  found  one  of  the  two  under  the  table 
and  the  other  upon  it.  It  was  not  an  event  sufficiently 
out  of  the  common  for  an}T  great  notice  to  be  taken  of 
it ;  so  they  simply  took  Don  Manuel  away  to  his  apart¬ 
ments  and  lay  Csesar  upon  his  bed :  the  dessert  was 
postponed  until  the  following  day.  They  then  secured 
the  door  with  the  greatest  care,  and  left  the  prisoner 
alone. 

He  lay  for  a  moment  without  motion  and  apparently 
plunged  in  most  profound  slumber.  But  when  the  steps 
died  away  he  gently  raised  his  head,  opened  his  eyes, 
slipped  off  the  bed,  walked  to  the  door  (slowly,  it  is  true, 
but  without  apparent  inconvenience  from  his  accident 
of  the  night  before),  and  stood  for  some  moments  with 
his  ear  to  the  key  hole.  Then  he  raised  his  head  with 
an  indefinable  expression  of  satisfaction,  drew  his  hand 
across  his  forehead,  and  for  the  first  time  since  his  guards 
left  him  breathed  freely. 

There  was  no  time  to  lose  ;  his  first  care  was  to  secure 
the  door  as  firmly  on  the  inside  as  it  was  secured  on  the 
outside :  then  he  blew  out  his  lamp,  opened  the  window 
and  finished  cutting  through  the  bar.  When  this  was 
done,  he  unwound  the  bandages  on  his  leg,  and  tore 
down  the  bed  curtains  and  those  at  the  window ;  these 
he  tore  into  strips  and  added  the  sheets,  coverlid  and 
napkins.  All  these  different  articles  tied  together  made 
a  rope  some  fifty  or  sixty  feet  long ;  he  then  made  knots 
in  it  at  short  intervals,  tied  the  rope  securely  by  one  end 
to  the  bar  next  the  one  he  had  cut,  climbed  through  the 
window,  and  began  to  carry  out  the  really  dangerous 
part  of  his  undertaking,  clinging  with  feet  and  hands  to 
his  slender  support.  Happily  he  was  as  strong  as  he 
was  clever,  and  let  himself  down  the  whole  length  of 


268 


THE  BORGIAS. 


the  rope  in  safety ;  but  when  he  reached  the  end  and 
was  clinging  with  his  hands  to  the  last  knot  he  felt  in 
vain  with  his  feet  for  the  solid  earth ;  the  line  was  too 
short ! 

He  was  in  a  fearful  plight ;  the  darkness  was  so  intense 
that  he  could  not  see  how  far  he  was  from  the  earth  and 
he  was  too  weary  to  think  of  trying  to  retrace  his  steps. 
He  uttered  a  short  prayer  (he  alone  can  say  whether  it 
was  addressed  to  God  or  Satan) ;  then  let  go  the  line, 
and  fell  some  twelve  or  fifteen  feet. 

The  danger  was  too  pressing  for  the  fugitive  to  think 
about  the  few  slight  bruises  he  sustained  ;  he  scrambled 
at  once  to  his  feet,  and  looking  about  for  his  window 
took  his  bearings  and  went  straight  to  the  little  postern. 
He  put  his  hand  in  the  pocket  of  his  doublet, — horror 
of  horrors ! — the  cold  sweat  stood  on  his  brow  :  whether 
he  had  left  it  in  his  cell,  or  dropped  it  in  his  fall,  certain 
it  was  that  he  no  longer  had  the  key. 

On  reflection,  however,  he  discarded  the  first  idea, 
and  decided  that  he  must  have  dropped  it.  He  walked 
back  through  the  courtyard  trying  to  locate  the  spot 
where  it  must  have  fallen,  with  reference  to  the  wall  of 
a  cistern  upon  which  he  remembered  placing  his  hand 
when  he  rose,  but  the  key  was  so  small,  and  the  night 
so  dark  that  there  was  little  chance  that  his  search  would 
be  rewarded.  However,  Caesar  bent  all  his  energies 
upon  it,  for  the  key  was  his  last  resource.  Suddenly  he 
heard  a  door  open,  and  a  night  patrol  appeared  preceded 
by  two  torches.  For  a  moment  Caesar  thought  he  was 
lost ;  but  he  remembered  the  cistern  behind  him,  and  at 
once  climbed  down  into  it,  leaving  only  his  head  above 
the  water.  In  that  position  he  followed  with  the  deepest 
anxiety  the  movements  of  the  soldiers,  who  came  to¬ 
ward  him,  passed  within  a  few  feet  of  him,  crossed  the 


THE  BORGIAS.  269 

courtyard  and  disappeared  through  a  door  on  the  op¬ 
posite  side. 

Although  the  lights  carried  by  the  party  passed  almost 
like  a  flash  of  lightning,  their  rays  fell  upon  the  ground, 
and  Caesar  saw  the  key  shine  where  it  lay.  The  door 
through  which  the  soldiers  disappeared  was  no  sooner 
closed  behind  them  than  he  was  a  free  man  once  more. 

Half  way  to  the  village  two  horsemen,  with  a  led 
horse,  were  awaiting  him  :  they  were  the  Count  of  Bene- 
vento  and  Michelotto.  Caesar  leaped  upon  the  led  horse, 
and  pressed  the  hands  of  the  count  and  the  bravo  with 
equal  warmth,  and  all  three  rode  away  at  full  speed  for 
the  frontier  of  Navarre,  where  they  arrived  after  a  three 
days’  journey,  and  where  he  received  a  cordial  welcome 
from  King  Jean  d’Albret,  his  wife’s  brother. 

From  Navarre  Caesar  intended  to  make  his  way  into 
France,  and  from  France,  with  the  concurrence  of  Louis 
XII.,  renew  his  attempts  upon  Italy.  But  during  his 
detention  in  the  Castle  of  Medina  del  Campo,  Louis  had 
made  peace  with  the  King  of  Spain  ;  so  that,  when  he 
heard  of  Caesar’s  flight,  instead  of  supporting  him,  as 
he  had  some  right  to  expect  that  he  would  do,  being 
connected  with  him  by  marriage,  he  deprived  him  of  his 
duchy  of  Yalentinois  and  discontinued  his  pension. 
Caesar  still  had,  however,  about  two  hundred  thousand 
ducats  to  his  credit  with  certain  bankers  at  Genoa ;  he 
wrote  them  to  send  him  that  sum,  proposing  to  employ  it 
in  raising  troops  in  Spain  and  Naples  for  a  descent  upon 
Pisa.  Five  hundred  men,  two  hundred  thousand  ducats, 
his  name  and  his  sword,  were  more  than  enough  to  keep 
hope  alive  in  his  breast. 

The  bankers  refused  to  honor  his  drafts,  and  Caesar 
was  at  his  brother-in-law’s  mercy. 

About  this  time  a  vassal  of  the  King  of  Navarre, 


270 


THE  BORGIAS. 


Prince  Alarino,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt.  Caesar 
took  command  of  the  army  sent  against  him  by  Jean 
d’Albret,  and  was  accompanied  by  Michelotto,  whose 
fidelity  was  the  same  in  adversity  as  in  prosperity.  By 
virtue  of  Caesar’s  gallant  conduct,  and  the  skilful  dispo¬ 
sition  of  his  forces,  Prince  Alarino  was  defeated  in  the 
first  engagement ;  but  two  days  later,  having  rallied 
what  remained  of  his  army,  he  offered  battle  about  three 
o’clock  in  the  afternoon. 

Caesar  accepted  the  challenge,  and  for  more  than  four 
hours  the  struggle  was  most  desperate  on  both  sides ;  at 
last  as  the  sun  wras  sinking  below  the  horizon,  Caesar  de¬ 
termined  to  decide  the  affair  one  way  or  the  other  by 
leading  a  charge  with  a  hundred  men-at-arms,  upon  a 
squadron  of  cavalry  which  formed  the  mainstay  of  his 
opponent’s  force.  To  his  great  astonishment  the  cavalry 
fell  back  at  the  first  onset,  and  fled,  as  if  seeking  cover, 
to  a  little  wood.  Caesar  followed  with  lance  in  rest  to 
the  edge  of  the  forest ;  but  at  that  point  the  fugitives 
suddenly  turned  about,  and  were  reinforced  by  three  or 
four  hundred  archers,  who  rushed  out  from  beneath  the 
trees.  Caesar’s  followers,  seeing  that  they  had  fallen 
into  an  ambuscade,  took  to  their  heels  and  basely  de¬ 
serted  their  master. 

Although  he  was  left  entirely  alone,  Caesar  refused  to 
yield  an  inch.  It  may  be  that  he  had  had  enough  of 
life,  and  that  his  heroism  was  due  to  disgust  rather  than 
to  courage.  However  that  may  be,  he  defended  himself 
like  a  lion,  but  at  last,  when  he  was  fairly  riddled  with 
arrows  and  cross-bow  bolts,  his  horse  fell  and  pinned  his 
leg  to  the  ground.  At  once  his  adversaries  rushed  upon 
him,  and  one  of  them  aimed  a  blow  at  his  defenceless 
breast  with  a  pike,  and  ran  him  through  with  its  keen, 
slender  head.  Csesar  shrieked  out  a  fearful  curse,  and  died. 


THE  BOEGIAS. 


271 


Meanwhile  the  rest  of  Alarino’s  army  was  beaten, 
thanks  to  the  personal  prowess  of  Michelotto,  who  bore 
himself  like  a  gallant  soldier  ;  but  when  he  returned  to 
camp  in  the  evening,  he  learned  from  those  who  had  fled 
that  they  left  Caesar  behind,  and  he  had  not  reappeared. 
He  was  but  too  well  convinced,  in  view  of  his  master’s 
well-known  courage,  that  some  misfortune  must  have 
happened  to  him,  and  he  determined  to  prove  his  devo¬ 
tion  for  the  last  time  by  rescuing  his  body  from  the 
wolves  and  birds  of  prey.  He  ordered  torches  to  be 
lighted,  for  it  was  a  very  dark  night,  and  with  ten  or 
twelve  of  those  who  followed  Caesar  as  far  as  the  little 
wrood,  began  to  search  for  his  master.  When  they 
reached  the  spot  in  question  he  saw  five  bodies  stretched 
out  side  by  side ;  four  were  dressed,  but  the  fifth  had 
been  robbed  of  his  clothing,  and  was  entirely  naked. 

Michelotto  alighted,  raised  the  dead  man’s  head  and 
laid  it  on  his  knee,  and  by  the  fitful  glare  of  the  torches 
recognized  Caesar. 

Thus  died,  on  March  10, 1507,  on  an  unknown  battle¬ 
field,  near-by  an  obscure  village  called  Yiane,  in  a  pal¬ 
try  skirmish  with  the  rebellious  vassal  of  a  petty  king, 
the  man  whom  Machiavelli  has  presented  to  earthly 
princes  as  a  model  of  ability,  political  genius,  and  per¬ 
sonal  courage. 

Lucrezia,  the  beautiful  Duchess  of  Ferrara,  died  full 
of  years  and  honors,  adored  by  her  subjects  as  a  queen, 
and  extolled  as  a  goddess  by  Ariosto  and  Bembo. 

vL#  \L»  U/  U* 

/fi 

There  was  once  at  Paris,  if  we  may  believe  Boccac¬ 
cio,  a  worthy  and  upright  merchant,  one  Jean  de  Civ- 
igny,  who  drove  a  thriving  trade  as  a  cloth-maker, 
and  was  closely  connected  in  business,  and  on  intimate 
terms  as  a  neighbor,  with  a  very  wealthy  confrere,  named 


THE  BORGIAS. 


272  4 

Abraham,  whose  reputation  was  of  the  best,  although 
he  was  a  Jew. 

Now  Jean  de  Civigny  appreciated  the  worthy  Israel¬ 
ite’s  many  good  qualities,  and  dreaded  to  think  that  such 
a  fine  fellow  might  be  led  to  everlasting  perdition  by  his 
false  belief.  So  he  began  in  a  mild  and  friendly  way  to 
beg  him  to  renounce  his  errors,  and  to  open  his  eyes  to 
the  beauty  of  the  Christian  religion,  which,  so  far  as  he 
could  judge,  was  waxing  greater  and  more  prosperous 
every  day,  as  it  came  to  be  more  generally  recognized  as 
the  only  true  faith ;  while  his,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
losing  ground  so  rapidly  that  it  would  soon  disappear 
altogether  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  Jew  replied  that  there  was  no  salvation  except  in 
the  Jewish  religion,  that  he  was  born  therein,  and  pro¬ 
posed  to  live  and  die  therein,  and  that  he  knew  of  no 
consideration  under  heaven  which  would  bring  him  to  a 
different  view.  Nevertheless,  so  fervent  was  his  desire  to 
make  a  convert,  Jean  refused  to  admit  defeat,  and  there 
was  not  a  day  on  which  he  did  not  conclusively  demon¬ 
strate  the  superiority  of  the  Christian  to  the  Jewish  re¬ 
ligion  in  the  honeyed  words  with  which  the  clever 
merchant  seduces  the  unwilling  purchaser.  Although 
Abraham  was  a  leading  light  among  the  believers  in  the 
Mosaic  law,  either  because  of  his  friendship  for  Jean  de 
Civigny,  or  because  the  Holy  Spirit  gave  force  to  the 
eloquence  of  the  new  apostle,  he  began  at  last  to  relish 
the  good  merchant’s  preaching.  He  still  persisted,  to  be 
sure,  in  his  allegiance  to  the  old  faith,  and  refused  to 
change ;  but  his  obstinacy  did  but  redouble  Jean’s  deter¬ 
mination  to  effect  his  conversion,  until  at  last,  with  God’s 
help  he  succeeded  in  making  him  waver. 

“  Listen,  Jean,”  said  Abraham  one  day  ;  “  as  you  are 
so  very  earnest  in  your  desire  to  convert  me,  I  am  more 


THE  BORGIAS. 


273 


than  inclined  to  gratify  you ;  but  first  of  all  I  propose 
to  go  to  Rome,  and  see  the  man  whom  you  call  God’s 
vicar  upon  earth,  study  his  mode  of  life  and  his  habits, 
as  well  as  those  of  his  brothers  the  cardinals ;  and  if,  as 
I  doubt  not,  they  are  in  harmony  with  the  moral  pre¬ 
cepts  which  you  preach,  I  will  admit,  what  you  have 
taken  such  infinite  pains  to  prove  to  me,  that  your  faith 
is  better  than  mine,  and  I  will  do  as  you  wish  ;  but  if,  on 
the  other  hand,  I  find  a  different  state  of  things,  I  will 
remain  a  Jew  as  I  am,  for  it  is  not  worth  while,  at  my 
age,  to  change  my  belief  for  a  worse  one.” 

Jean  was  in  despair  when  he  heard  this,  for  he  said  to 
himself,  disconsolately : 

“  Here  I  have  thrown  away  all  the  time  and  trouble 
which  I  thought  I  was  employing  to  such  good  advantage 
in  the  attempt  to  convert  this  unfortunate  Abraham  ; 
for  if  he  is  so  ill-advised  as  to  go  to  Rome,  as  he  suggests, 
and  see  the  disgraceful  life  which  the  pillars  of  the 
Church  lead,  instead  of  turning  Christian,  he  would  be 
more  inclined  to  turn  Jew  if  he  were  a  Christian.” 

He  turned  to  Abraham,  and  said : 

“  Oh !  why  do  you  go  to  all  the  expense  and  weariness 
of  a  journey  to  Rome,  my  friend  ?  Furthermore,  whether 
you  go  by  land  or  sea,  it’s  a  very  hazardous  undertaking 
for  so  wealthy  a  man  as  you  are.  Ho  you  imagine  that 
there  is  no  one  here  to  baptize  you?  Qr,  if  you  still 
have  some  doubts  as  to  what  I  have  urged  upon  you, 
where  will  you  find  theologians  better  fitted  to  combat 
and  destroy  them  than  here  in  Paris  ?  For  these  reasons, 
you  see,  the  journey  seems  to  me  altogether  unnecessary  ; 
just  imagine  that  the  prelates  down  yonder  are  just  as 
their  brethren  here  are,  and  even  better  on  account  of 
their  nearness  to  the  supreme  shepherd.  If  you  take 

my  advice  you  will  postpone  this  fatiguing  enterprise 
Vol.  II.— 18. 


274 


THE  BORGIAS. 


until  the  time  when  you  require  plenary  absolution  for 
some  heinous  sin  ;  then  we  will  go  together.” 

“  I  believe,  my  dear  Jean,”  the  Jew  replied,  “  that  it’s 
all  as  you  say;  but  you  know  how  obstinate  I  am. 
Either  I  will  go  to  Rome,  or  I  will  not  turn  Christian.” 

Jean  saw  that  it  was  useless  to  argue  further  with 
him,  and  wished  him  a  pleasant  journey.  He  aban¬ 
doned  all  hope  of  his  conversion,  however,  for  he  was 
sure  that  if  the  court  of  Rome  was  what  it  was  when  he 
saw  it  himself,  his  friend  would  return  from  his  pilgrim¬ 
age  a  more  devout  Jew  than  ever. 

Abraham  mounted  his  horse,  and  made  such  speed  as 
he  was  able  to  the  Eternal  City,  where  he  arrived  in  due 
time,  and  was  received  with  open  arms  by  his  co-reli¬ 
gionists.  After  he  had  taken  his  bearings,  so  to  speak, 
he  set  about  investigating  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  pope  and  cardinals,  the  other  prelates,  and  the  whole 
court.  But  to  his  unbounded  astonishment,  he  found,  by 
what  he  saw  himself,  as  well  as  by  what  was  told  him, 
that  from  the  pope  down  to  the  humblest  sacristan  of  St. 
Peter’s,  every  man  of  them  was  steeped  to  the  lips  in 
guilty  unbridled  indulgence  in  every  sort  of  debauchery, 
without  remorse  or  shame :  so  that  the  attractive  young 
people  of  both  sexes  were  supreme  in  the  distribution  of 
honors  and  favors.  In  addition  to  the  open  prevalence 
of  the  sin  of  debauchery,  he  found  that  they  were  glut¬ 
tons  and  hard  drinkers,  and  that  to  such  a  degree,  that 
they  were  more  the  slaves  of  their  stomachs  than  the  very 
swine. 

When  he  probed  still  deeper  he  found  that  they  were 
so  avaricious,  and  so  greedy  of  gain,  that  they  bought 
and  sold  human  blood  and  things  divine  for  cash,  and 
with  less  conscience  than  characterized  the  dealings  of 
the  merchants  of  Paris. 


THE  BORGIAS. 


275 


Having  seen  all  this  and  many  things  more,  so  dis¬ 
graceful  that  they  would  sully  the  page  on  which  they 
were  written,  Abraham,  who  was  a  chaste,  sober,  upright 
man,  thought  that  he  had  seen  enough,  and  determined 
to  return  to  Paris,  which  he  did  with  the  promptness 
with  which  he  ordinarily  carried  out  his  resolutions. 

Jean  de  Civigny  was  delighted  beyond  measure  when 
he  returned,  although  he  had  lost  all  hope  of  finding  him 
a  convert.  He  gave  him  time  to  settle  down  before  he 
broached  the  subject,  thinking  that  any  time  would  be 
soon  enough  to  learn  the  bad  news  he  anticipated.  But 
after  a  few  days’  rest  Abraham  came  of  his  own  motion 
to  visit  his  friend,  and  Jean  ventured  to  ask  him  what 
he  thought  of  the  Holy  Father  and  the  cardinals,  and 
the  rest  of  the  pontifical  court. 

“  God  damn  them  every  one !  ”  cried  the  Jew ;  “  for, 
as  wide  as  I  opened  my  eyes,  I  could  discover  no  trace 
among  them  of  sanctity,  devotion,  or  inclination  to  good 
works ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  all  lust,  avarice,  glut¬ 
tony,  fraud,  envy,  false  pride,  and  worse,  if  worse  can  be. 
The  whole  great  machine  seemed  to  me  to  be  impelled  by 
the  power  of  the  devil,  rather  than  by  any  divine  force. 
Now  my  deliberate  conviction,  based  upon  what  I  saw, 
is  that  your  pope,  and  all  the  others  with  him,  exert 
all  their  skill,  all  their  intellect,  all  their  energy  to  wipe 
the  Christian  religion  off  the  face  of  the  earth,  although 
they  ought  to  be  its  firmest  foundation  and  support. 
And  yet,  notwithstanding  all  the  pains  and  all  the 
thought  which  they  employ  to  that  end,  I  see  that  your 
religion  is  extending  every  day,  and  every  day  becoming 
purer  and  more  glorious,  therefore  is  it  demonstrated  to 
my  satisfaction  that  the  Holy  Spirit  protects  and  defends 
it  as  the  only  true  faith,  and  the  most  blessed  of  all 
faiths.  That  is  why  you  find  me  as  firmly  fixed  in  my 


276 


THE  BORGIAS. 


resolution  to  become  a  Christian  since  my  return  from 
Rome,  as  I  was  deaf  to  your  appeals  and  your  desire 
before  I  made  my  pilgrimage  to  that  Sodom.  So  come 
with  me  to  the  Church,  my  dear  Jean,  for  I  am  all  ready 
to  be  baptized.” 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  Jean,  who  anticipated 
anything  else,  was  happy  at  Abraham’s  change  of  heart ; 
without  delay  he  accompanied  his  godchild  to  the 
Cathedral  of  Notre-Dame,  where  he  begged  the  first 
priest  he  met  to  administer  the  rite  of  baptism.  He 
gladly  complied  and  the  new  convert  exchanged  his 
Israelitish  name  of  Abraham  for  the  Christian  cognomen 
of  Jean.  His  journey  to  Rome  had  implanted  his  faith 
deep  in  his  heart,  and  the  good  qualities  he  already 
possessed  were  so  added  to  by  the  practice  of  our  blessed 
religion,  that  after  an  exemplary  life  he  died  in  the  full 
odor  of  sanctity. 


This  tale  of  Boccaccio’s  is  in  itself  such  an  admirable 
rejoinder  to  the  reproach  of  being  irreligious,  which 
those  who  mistake  our  purpose  may  bring  against  us, 
that  we  do  not  hesitate  to  place  it  in  its  entirety  before 
the  eyes  of  our  readers,  without  seeking  to  justify  our¬ 
selves  by  any  other  reply. 

Let  us  not  forget,  however,  that,  although  the  papacy 
has  had  its  Innocent  VIII.  and  its  Alexander  VI.,  who 
have  left  an  indelible  stain  upon  its  records,  it  has  also 
had  its  Pius  VII.  and  its  Gregory  XVI.,  who  have  shed 
undying  honor  upon  it. 


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